New Zealand police find bodies after landslide tragedy, Swedish tourist among those still missing
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The portion of a cliff that gave way at the scene of a landslide triggered by heavy rains on Jan 23, in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Swedish tourist and two teenagers are among six people missing more than three days after a devastating landslide struck a campsite
Police said on Jan 24 they have found bodies beneath mud and debris and are now moving to recover victims after initially holding out hopes for survivors.
“We’re now in a situation where overnight, we have now found human remains,” Police District Commander Tim Anderson said on Jan 24 at a press conference near the site.
“We are now moving into a recovery phase and this is heartbreaking news for us and also obviously for the families involved.”
Emergency services including specialist search and rescue teams have been scouring the site since it hit tents, campervans, a swimming pool and a toilet block at the campsite early on Jan 22.
“From what we have seen, the building suffered catastrophic damage and we are confronted with the reality that it is highly unlikely anyone would have been able to survive,” Mr Anderson said.
In addition to the 20-year-old male Swedish visitor, those unaccounted for include a boy and girl from Auckland, both 15. Also missing are three women between the ages of 51 and 71, police said in a statement.
Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed a Swedish national was unaccounted for, Television New Zealand reported.
Police will now undertake a detailed disaster victim identification process alongside the coroner’s office, and that could take several days.
The landslip has been the most confronting event after a tropical storm swept across the top of the nation’s North Island earlier this week, causing rivers to rise and creating floodwaters that cut off some remote areas.
Two people were killed when a landslide damaged a house in Papamoa, near Tauranga, on Jan 22.
Police are also continuing to search for a man who was swept away by a swollen river near the town of Warkworth, north of Auckland, while a second man is missing after falling from a boat in a river in the eastern Bay of Plenty region. BLOOMBERG
