Sikh priests were urgently ushered into the intensive care unit to pray for the most critically injured victims of the Hawkes Bay crash that injured eight relatives.

The driver of a van that plunged 15m down a sheer cliff is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel.

School injuries are on the rise - with explosions, scalding liquid, and fungi ingestion among the causes of more than 77,600 injuries in the past year.

Eight family members, including a six-month-old boy and two young girls, were injured in a horror van crash today after the driver is believed to have fallen asleep.

A Hamilton woman killed when her car and a bus collided had just graduated from university and had a fresh start in a new job.

The number of people killed on our roads this year is the lowest since 1950, down 17 per cent on the previous year.

A motorcyclist has died just off State Highway 1 north of Bulls this morning, taking the holiday road toll to six.

A mother trapped in a rolled van was asking rescuers about her baby daughter as she slipped in and out of consciousness. The 11-month-old girl died hours later.

Alice Mooney saw the horse rear and then watched as it fell towards her and slammed her into the ground.

A taxi driver feels lucky to have escaped death after his car was swept away by the swollen Silver Stream near Dunedin.

Police say they are confident the body recovered from Nelson Lakes National Park yesterday afternoon is that of missing British tramper Andrew Ian Wyatt.

Search and rescue teams looking for a British tramper have found a body at the bottom of a 100m cliff.

A mid-air plane crash that killed two women in Manawatu was caused when the wing of one light aircraft was clipped by the tyre of the other, an interim report has found.

Two cars collided tonight on State Highway 1 on the southern side of the Brynderwyn Hill south of Whangarei.

Police are calling on motorists to take extra care over the holiday period, following a weekend that saw two people killed, several seriously injured, and two others rescued from a car hanging in a tree.

Two people were seriously injured when a car rolled on Masters Road in Waiuku last night. Three fire appliances attended the crash.

The road toll is set to be the lowest in more than 60 years if drivers pay attention and behave themselves on the roads over the Christmas period.

A young farm worker was killed when the car she was driving crashed through a guard rail on a bridge and plunged into a river.

Heroes were lauded but no one was ever held to account for the deadly carnage that ensued when the Wellington-to-Auckland overnight express plunged into the Whangaehu River 60 years ago.

A man aged in his 20s was killed by a falling tree while working on a forestry block in rural Horowhenua this morning.

Rescuers are struggling to reach a vehicle stuck underwater and believed to have a person inside in the Hunterville area.

The family of a woman who died in a crash on the West Coast on Monday don't know how to tell her youngest children their mum won't be coming home for Christmas.