A 9-year-old boy has died following an accident on a motorised go cart in the Far North this afternoon.

A Scottish tourist was killed and his wife and daughter seriously injured in a car crash near Havelock North.

Generous friends and supporters of a young mother who lost her partner in a motorbike crash have taken like “wildfire” to an online fund established for the mum and her baby.

The pilot of a skydiving plane which suffered a suspected engine failure over Lake Taupo was on his first day of flying unsupervised when he made the call to abandon the aircraft.

Road crashes do not discriminate. They claim the lives of children, the elderly, mothers-to-be, teenagers, tourists, drunks, speedsters and sometimes whole families.

'I survived a fricking plane crash. Nope, not even kidding.' One of the survivors of the Taupo skydive plane crash is glad to be alive.

The teenage girl who drowned while paddle boarding in Whangamata has been named by police.

A 15-year-old girl has drowned after her paddleboard was swept under a boat by a strong current and wind at Whangamata this afternoon.

A witness who saw a light plane plummet into Lake Taupo this afternoon dived into the water to see if anyone was trapped in the "mangled" wreckage.

The death of a man found in a deep hole on the West Coast today is not believed to be related to this morning's earthquake in the region, police say.

A French woman is in a critical condition after a crash in Waikato yesterday in which six people were injured.

Three people were critically injured in two road crashes in the North Island last night.

A 23-year-old Australian tourist on a Kiwi Christmas holiday with her boyfriend and mates has died of head injuries after she fell at a Coromandel water hole.

'That's it for us.' A Canterbury family is calling it quits on rollercoasters forever after being trapped at the top of one at Rainbow's End yesterday.

Special rules for overseas drivers are favoured by the majority of New Zealanders, according to a Herald-Digipoll survey.

The Kaimai Ranges road is closed following a head-on crash between a truck and van.

A man who died in hospital nine days after being thrown from a ute in Raglan on Boxing Day has been named by police.

A report of a light plane crash at a Northland beach was a false alarm.

An elderly Southland man who suffered burns to most of his body in a house fire on Friday night has died in hospital, police have said today.

Police say alcohol and speed are coming through as significant contributors to the holiday road.

New Zealand is being asked to introduce safety standards for blinds to stop children being hurt or even killed in the cords.

The family of a New Zealander who died trying to save a dive boat during a storm is travelling to the California island he called home.

Holiday road toll rises to 14 as family and friends mourn vibrant young woman who became first road death of 2015.

Ben Sargent has been remembered as a fun-loving, sporting, and well-loved youngster with his whole life ahead of him.

A young man who died trying to jump from a light pole into a Gisborne swimming pool had spent the afternoon playing football and enjoying a few drinks with friends.

The search area was widened because surveillance planes could not see tiny fragments of wreckage in choppy waters. And families, once again, did not know how or why their loved ones died.