New Zealand landslide: six missing named as police confirm victims are unlikely to be found alive

Original article by Eva Corlett in Wellington

The families and friends of six people buried in a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park last week have paid tribute to their loved ones, after they were named by officials, and police confirmed they were unlikely to be found alive.

The victims include 15-year-old Pakūranga College students Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee, literacy coordinator Lisa Maclennan, 50, longtime friends Jacqualine Wheeler and Susan Knowles, both 71, and Swedish national Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20.

Police Supt Tim Anderson said the operation had been focused on saving the lives of those missing beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, but the search had moved into a recovery phase.

“Search teams have been working through the slip layer by layer, but tragically it is now apparent that we will not be able to bring them home alive,” Anderson said over the weekend.

“We informed the families of this news this morning … They are going through something very few people could understand, and we ask that they be given space to grieve.”

Human remains were uncovered on Friday and formal identification is now under way, police said. Recovery efforts resumed on Monday morning, after the site was deemed potentially unstable on Sunday.

In a statement provided to police, the mother of 15-year-old Max Furse-Kee, Hannah Furse, said the lives of her family had changed “so suddenly and so completely” they would never be the same again.

“My love for Max is impossible to explain, no words are big enough to describe this love or loss,” she wrote. “What I can say is from the moment I first looked at his beautiful blue eyes almost 16 years ago he had my whole heart, he was my sunshine.”

Max was due to turn 16 this week.

“Life without Max is impossible to imagine. In truth, all of this feels impossible to imagine. We are endlessly proud of who he is and that he is ours,” Furse said.

Max had been holidaying with fellow-student Sharon Maccanicoa, originally from the southern Italian town Picarelli, who lived in Auckland, the NZ Herald reported.

“His incredible friends and his girlfriend meant the world to him, and the love, happiness, and sense of belonging they gave him brought him so much joy,” Furse said.

In a social media post, Morrinsville intermediate school announced “with great sadness” Lisa Maclennan – a literacy centre tutor – was one of the victims.

“Our love and aroha go out to Lisa’s family; we ask that you respect their privacy at this very difficult time,” said Jenny Clark, on behalf of the school.

Messages in response described Maclennan as “loved by many”, with a “heart of gold”, who contributed much to the young people in the community.

Roughly 200 members of the Mount Maunganui community came together for a vigil on Sunday evening, with prime minister Christopher Luxon also in attendance.

“There’s a solemnness, there’s a sadness, there’s a heaviness that’s here in the community,” he told the NZ Herald. “People are wanting to find a way through that.”

The landslide was one of several across the country last week, alongside flooding, road closures and power outages, after a series of storms tore through the North Island. Two people – including one Chinese national – died in a separate landslide that crashed into a house in Papamoa, south of Tauranga, on Thursday. Another man was killed after being swept down a river near Warkworth, north of Auckland.

On Monday, the mayor of Tauranga, Mahe Drysdale, announced there would be a full and independent investigation into the tragedy, following questions over why people were not evacuated after reports of slips near the campsite and neighbouring areas earlier on Thursday.

“There are legitimate questions that need to be asked,” Drysdale told RNZ. “For the sake of the families and for our community, everyone wants to know that everything was done and that everyone is safe going forward.”