Two women believed to have been killed in the Mount Maunganui campground landslide were friends

Police have announced Jacqualine Suzanne Wheeler and Susan Doreen Knowles, are among the six unaccounted for in the landslide.

Ms Wheeler co-founded an interior design business, and Ms Knowles was a property manager in Rotorua.

Rotorua councillor Gregg Brown says he knew Ms Knowles particularly well and described her as a delightful person.

He says the two women were friends, and had been good customers at a cafe he owned.