Global AffairsPolice confirm survivors unlikely in New Zealand landslide

Rescue efforts after a horror landslip in New Zealand have been hampered, as authorities make a grim admission.

None of the missing are expected to have survived a landslide at a campground in New Zealand, authorities have said, after the first discovery of human remains.

Six people, including two teenagers, remained unaccounted for after heavy rains triggered Thursday's landslide at Mount Maunganui on the east coast of the country's North Island.

The slide brought down soil and rubble at the site in the city of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays.

Rescue efforts have ceased and a recovery operation is under way, police Superintendent Tim Anderson said.

"The likelihood of someone being alive is highly unlikely according to the experts, but you could never rule that out," Supt Anderson told reporters at Mount Maunganui.

No signs of life have been detected from the rubble since voices were heard by first responders on Thursday.

The youngest of those missing is aged 15.

NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was "devastating to receive the news we have all been dreading".

"To the families who have lost loved ones - every New Zealander is grieving with you," he posted on X.

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Luxon visited the site on Friday and met affected families.

"They are grieving incredibly hard, and I know that New Zealand grieves with them," he said.

Thirty-five crew, assisted by heavy machinery, were removing debris on Saturday after a partial slip in a section of the search area on Friday evening, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said.

Heavy rain forecast for the area on Saturday could present further challenges, including having "to withdraw from the slip area for their safety", Fire and Emergency official Megan Stiffler said in a statement.

The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighbouring suburb of Papamoa, killing two.