AUCKLAND - A landslide smashed into a campsite in rain-swept northern New Zealand on Thursday, leaving multiple people missing under tonnes of mud.
Mounds of earth buried a shower block at the site, which lies at the foot of extinct volcano Mount Maunganui.
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.
"I can't be drawn on numbers. What I can say is that it is single figures."
Rescuers used heavy machinery to search for survivors after the disaster, which struck after overnight rain lashed the area on New Zealand's North Island.
A separate landslip ploughed into a home in nearby Tauranga, Anderson said. Two people escaped but two others were still unaccounted for.
At the campsite, the chunk of mountainside hit several camper vans and a pool complex.
Rescuers could be heard cutting into the wrecked shower block.
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.