A husband watched in horror as an oncoming car smashed head-on into his wife's vehicle, travelling behind his.

Police said the collision involved multiple cars and occurred at the intersection of State Highway 1 and Richards Rd in Hikurangi.

A teenager suffered severe burns to his face and upper body when ingredients he was using to make fireworks ignited in the kitchen of his Auckland home.

Hundreds of ACC claims arising from firework injuries are expected in the next few days as New Zealanders let off shop-bought explosives.

An immigrant taxi driver charged with careless driving after his wife lost their unborn baby in an accident says he still has faith in the New Zealand justice system.

Rutger Hale and Danielle Oylear's love story began with a chance meeting in a bar, but it was a cruel twist that tore them apart, his funeral service was told yesterday.

A grieving mother is pleading with parents never to leave their young children alone in water after her infant son drowned in a bath.

A man has died after being crushed by a vehicle at a Palmerston North vehicle testing facility this afternoon.

A specialist Christchurch-based police search team has been brought in to help in the hunt for a mystery object which killed 22-year-old driver Rutger Hale.

A person has died following a motor vehicle accident near Queenstown.

The father of a promising young rugby player has described how he could only tell his son to "hang on, mate" as he lay dying on a roadside early yesterday.

A motorcyclist suffered life-threatening injuries in East Auckland yesterday after colliding with a vehicle and being flipped into the path of another rider.

A man who died at a popular diving spot off the Coromandel Peninsula yesterday was diving with family members at the time.

Four people including a small child were injured when a fire appliance was involved in a collision with a car and a power pole yesterday.

The family of a young Auckland man killed when an unknown object smashed through his vehicle's windscreen near Wanaka say his girlfriend is traumatised by the crash.

A fleeing driver rammed a police patrol car then crashed into the back of a roadworks truck following a dramatic pursuit involving armed police.

A Canterbury school is mourning the loss of a "devoted and passionate" teacher who was accidentally run over and killed by her husband last night.

For at least one family who lost a son in the Paritutu Rock tragedy last year, the sentencing of the Taranaki Outdoor Pursuits centre is well short of closure.

The Taranaki Outdoor Pursuits Centre has escaped a fine for the tragedy on Paritutu Rock last year, but will still pay out $72,000 in reparations to families of victims and survivors.

The driver of a luxury car that crashed on Auckland's Tamaki Drive will face charges over the accident.

Three parachutists made a desperate bid to exit a blazing aircraft seconds before it plunged into a field in southern Belgium, killing 11 people.

The number of fatal truck crashes has dropped over the past decade, from a peak of 81 in 2004 to 46 last year, a decrease the New Zealand Transport Agency is celebrating.