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.

Western Australian police are investigating the death of a man after he fell from a cruise ship bound for Noumea.

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.

A young Tongan family who moved to the West Coast for the promise of a better life have been torn apart just days before Christmas.

Searchers have found the body of the helicopter pilot whose aircraft crashed yesterday in steep terrain near the start of the Milford Track.

An Invercargill Police search and rescue (SAR) team has arrived in Te Anau to help with the recovery operation.

A 4-year-old boy has died after being hit by a light truck in rural South Auckland last night.

An experienced helicopter pilot is feared to have died in a crash yesterday near the Lake Te Anau starting point of the Milford Track.

A bar manager leapt for his life as a speeding car smashed into the spot where he had been standing outside a bar early yesterday.

A 65-year-old man has died after a tractor accident on the West Coast today.

The man killed in an early morning crash near Te Poi in Waikato on Wednesday was Grant Scott Gilmer of Tauranga, police say.

Fences capable of holding 2500 tonnes of rock will be installed at the Diana Falls slip next year where two Canadian tourists were swept to their deaths.