Police are investigating whether another vehicle was involved in the crash which flipped a rubbish truck, killing its driver.

A deadly truck crash on Auckland's Southwestern Motorway caused havoc for commuters during yesterday evening's rush hour, halting traffic in both directions.

It was 5.30 in the morning when this truck crashed over a bank and became entangled in vegetation. Rescue workers are surprised the driver is still alive.

An 8-year-old Tauranga girl who received serious head injuries after being kicked by a horse underwent surgery at Starship Hospital yesterday.

A man died in front of his young grandson on a busy service station forecourt despite frantic efforts of station staff to save him.

The woman spoken to by police after a 20-year-old man was critically injured by a car in Tokoroa, has been charged with assault with a weapon.

The body of a missing man whose dinghy was found in an Invercargill river has been recovered.

A 6-year-old boy died during a horror day on North Island roads yesterday.

A motorcycle rider has died following a collision with a car near Cambridge this afternoon.

A man has been critically injured after being struck by a car in Tokoroa today.

Two people have been injured following a helicopter crash in Rodney, north of Auckland.

A man is dead after his motorbike collided with a ten tonne truck last night.

A motorcyclist was killed when his bike and a truck collided near Tauranga this evening.

The three tourists from Hong Kong were killed when their rental van and a truck and trailer unit collided in Central Otago.

A teenage girl swam ashore and ran 2km across a remote and rugged shoreline to call for help after the boat she was on capsized on the North Island's East Coast this morning.

Five tourists were injured when their Toyota Land Cruiser rolled down a bank in Otago yesterday.

One person has died after a crash involving four vehicles just outside Christchurch tonight.

A top Malaysia Airlines executive who is in NZ this week is urging relatives of those lost aboard MH370 to be patient as the carrier works to pay compensation.

A horror accident at a North Shore gymnasium which left a school student a quadriplegic came just months after a similar incident in which another teen broke his neck.

The man who dove in to Tauranga Harbour to rescue an unconscious jetskier said it was a "no-brainer" decision to try to help him.

A French family travelling near Mount Cook had to be rescued out the back of their upturned campervan after it flipped in strong winds.

A daredevil jetski rider has a blood clot on the brain after his signature backflip went disastrously wrong as he was thrilling a big crowd at the Tauranga Boat Expo.