MOUNT MAUNGANUI (AFP) — Landslides ploughed into a home and a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday, killing at least two people and leaving others missing under tons of mud.

Rescuers used heavy machinery to dig through the mass of earth that moved after heavy overnight rain in New Zealand’s North Island.

Emergency workers retrieved two bodies from the remains of a buried home in the harborside city of Tauranga, police said.

“Police are working to support their loved ones at this incredibly difficult time,” a spokesperson said.

Multiple people were missing after a chunk of earth from Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcano, slid into a popular campsite nearby.

The region is a big tourist draw in summer, with hikers heading up the mountain and thousands lured by white sand beaches.

The mud smashed into a shower block, threw around camper vans, and spread into an adjoining heated pool complex.

Voices were briefly heard calling for help from beneath the rubble, witnesses and emergency officials said.

“Whilst the land’s still moving there, they’re in a rescue mission,” Assistant Police Commissioner Tim Anderson told reporters at the scene.

Girl among missing

“I can’t be drawn on numbers. What I can say is that it is single figures,” Anderson said.

A young girl is among the missing, officials said.

A dozen family members watched the search for victims from across the road.

Visiting Canadian tourist Dion Siluch, 34, said he was having a massage at the now-evacuated Mount Hot Pools complex when the landslide hit.

“The whole room started shaking,” he told Agence France-Presse.

“When I walked out, there was a caravan in the pool, and there’s a mudslide that missed me by about 30 feet,” Siluch said. 

“It was all very confusing. I wasn’t sure if someone had driven off the road and into the pool. It took me a while to realize that the mountain had collapsed and had pushed everything into the pool.”

Siluch said he had seen another landslip about an hour earlier but took little notice.

Police arrived by helicopter and told people to evacuate, he said.

People at the campsite had instantly tried to dig into the rubble and heard voices, Fire and Emergency commander William Pike told reporters.

“Our initial fire crew arrived and were able to hear the same,” he said.

However, rescuers soon withdrew everyone from the site because of the risk of dangerous earth movements, the fire commander said.

Asked if voices had been heard since then, he said: “Not that I know of, no.”