SYDNEY: New Zealand authorities suspended recovery efforts on Sunday (Jan 25) for victims of a landslide that hit a busy campground on the nation’s North Island.
Six people, together with two youngsters, are presumed lifeless after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble on the website within the metropolis of Tauranga, crowded with households on summer time holidays.
Authorities have been working to determine the victims after human stays have been discovered on the website on Saturday.
However a crack discovered on the website prompted restoration work to stop for the day on Sunday, stated police Superintendent Tim Anderson.
“On account of that, we have needed to pull all our workers out,” Anderson advised reporters at Mount Maunganui, including, “We have had to do this for the security of everybody involved.”
He didn’t specify when work would resume, saying the authorities have been taking it “day-to-day in the meanwhile”.
