Rescue operations end with 6 missing in New Zealand landslide

by AFP Staff Writers
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand (AFP) Jan 24, 2026

Efforts to rescue at least six people buried alive by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended Saturday, with police shifting their focus to recovering human remains.

Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said it could take several days to locate all of the bodies, after a mountain of dirt and debris tumbled onto a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday.

Anderson said it was "heartbreaking" that six people remained unaccounted for, including two teenagers, after camper vans, caravans and a shower block were buried by a mudslide brought on by heavy rain.

The six missing people, presumed dead, included one foreign national, 20-year-old Mans Loke Bernhardsson from Sweden.

The others were New Zealanders: Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50; Jacqualine Suzanne Wheeler, 71; Susan Doreen Knowles, 71 and 15-year-olds Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee.

For the past two days, the holiday destination in the northern part of the country has hosted a series of vigils, with attendees holding out hope that search and rescue personnel would be successful.

Anderson said however, it had become apparent that there was little chance anyone buried had survived.

"This is heartbreaking news for us and obviously the families involved," he told reporters on Saturday, describing the rescue operation as complex.

"There's still a lot of mud and other aspects, so my primary consideration today is actually the safety of the staff working on it.

"There are really strict parameters around those that are working on site right now."

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon expressed condolences and said the affected families would receive support.

"Police have confirmed fatalities at the campground and the reality that no one would have been able to survive, therefore the rescue operation taking place there is now moving to a recovery," he said in a statement.

"To the families who have lost loved ones - every New Zealander is grieving with you."

New Zealand authorities are facing questions over why people were not evacuated following reports of a landslip at the campsite and neighbouring areas earlier on Thursday.

Two people died in a separate landslide on Thursday in the neighbouring harbourside city of Tauranga.

One of the people killed was a Chinese national, officials said.

Indonesia resumes search for dozens missing in deadly landslide
Cisarua, Indonesia (AFP) Jan 25, 2026 - Indonesian rescuers resumed searching on Sunday for around 80 people missing in a deadly landslide, after the mission coordinator said operations had to be suspended overnight due to harsh weather.

Triggered by heavy rain, the landslide barrelled into villages in Java's West Bandung region early Saturday morning, burying residential areas and forcing dozens of people to evacuate their homes.

At least nine people were killed and around 80 are still missing, the local search and rescue agency confirmed on Saturday, warning that the figures were provisional.

The rain forced rescue efforts to pause overnight, mission coordinator Ade Dian Permana said in a statement.

But operations resumed on Sunday morning as the rain subsided, an AFP reporter saw.

Rescuers, helped by the military, police and volunteers, have been excavating manually.

They are also deploying drones and canine units to scour the area for victims, according to the national rescue agency.

West Bandung's mayor warned on Saturday that the terrain was extremely difficult and the ground remained unstable.

Floods and landslides are common across the vast archipelago during the rainy season, which typically runs from October to March.

The disaster comes after tropical storms and intense monsoon rains late last year triggered flooding and landslides that killed around 1,200 people and displaced more than 240,000 in Indonesia's Sumatra island, according to official figures.

Environmentalists, experts and the government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages.

The government filed multiple lawsuits following the Sumatra floods, seeking more than $200 million in damages against six firms.

This month, torrential rains battered Indonesia's Siau island, causing a flash flood that killed at least 16 people.