A Mount Maunganui local has described seeing the moment a would-be hero jumped into the landslide rubble to save campers trapped beneath it - only for it to cave in on top of him.
A distraught woman who had been holding on to the man just had to let him slip through her fingers.
It was confirmed yesterday afternoon that six people were still unaccounted for after Thursday’s landslide at the iconic mountain which destroyed the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park. They include a 15-year-old and a woman who tried to raise the alarm after earlier slips.
Local Alister McHardy told the Herald he was walking in the area before 6am on Thursday and spotted two big slips on the Maunganui Beach side of the mountain.
He said several tents were below the slip and he could see others walking on the maunga above the slip.
His call log shows he rang 111 at 5.47am to report the slips in an effort to get campers and walkers to evacuate but claims, “they said I had to talk to the council”.
So he started waking up campers himself, including Dutch and German tourists.
“I was like, ‘Sorry to wake you up, but you really should move’.
“I was waking people up who were in a caravan, two in a tent and warning others who were milling about.”
The Tauranga City Council announced at 8.56am that it was closing the walking tracks around the popular tourist spot as severe weather had “significantly destabilised the maunga, creating an ongoing risk of further slips and falling debris”.
But the council made no call to evacuate the holiday park or the neighbouring Mount Hot Pools.
Then, on the side of the mountain closer to Pilot Bay, about 9.30am, the massive slip that flattened a toilet block, tents and sent a caravan into the pools came crashing down.
“I heard some cracking,” McHardy said.
“For a moment I just watched as it was slipping. It kept moving.
“You felt it. It was a weird sensation. It was like vertigo, you know when you are sitting in a car next to another car and it starts reversing? It was like that.”
He took a video of the commotion and a woman’s voice could be heard saying, “There are kids in that bathroom”.
Another person could be heard yelling, “Mate, get out of there, it’s still moving mate.”
McHardy said, “It was all still moving, it was fluid, it was like a big meatloaf.”
He heard screaming and saw a man in a blue shirt running into the rubble while a woman he assumed was his partner held on to him. People were telling her to get back.
“It’s hard to tell if she was trying to go with him or pull him out.
“There was a gap between a caravan and a building, probably the toilet block and it was like a doorway collapsing, he was sandwiched between them. He disappeared into it as it closed up.
“It’s hard to explain but it was twisting. It was rolling. The whole thing was contorting.
“I didn’t realise until afterwards that he’s probably gone.”
He said the man looked to be in his early 50s. He later saw the woman who was with him sitting on the campground grass, distressed as people comforted her.
Initially, people could be heard screaming beneath the toilet block.
“There was yelling down beneath the rubble at first,” McHardy said.
“But it didn’t last long.”
Several people jumped on the roof to try to reach them but were unsuccessful.
McHardy said he was in a state of shock after witnessing the devastation in a place he visits often.
“I didn’t sleep very well last night. I’m kicking myself, I should have kicked up more of a fuss.”
“This is me every day down here. Paradise has turned.”
Another woman, a camper, also tried to urge others to wake and move away from the slope behind the park.
That woman is now unaccounted for – believed to have been in the campground’s toilet block when the later and larger slip occurred.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale were asked at a press conference at Mount Maunganui yesterday why campers weren’t evacuated after the first slips.
“Our focus right now is on the rescue effort and supporting those affected, along with the emergency services and our staff working on the ground,” Drysdale said.
He said those questions would be answered after a “proper process”.
He confirmed there had been “reports of a small slip” after the initial event at 5am.
The mayor added: “Right now our focus is on emergency services, supporting them and supporting those families”.
He’s since announced an independent review will examine the events leading up to the Mount Maunganui landslide.
“As council, on behalf of the families and the whole community, we need to understand the facts and ensure that in the lead-up to this tragedy, everything was done that was appropriate in the circumstances,” he said.
“It is important to note that while we work to stand up this review, our immediate focus remains on supporting the families affected and those responsible for the rescue operation.”