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.

Vehicle Inspection New Zealand has said the death of one of its workers was a tragic and unfortunate accident.

A forestry company has been criticised in the death of worker Reece Reid who was too inexperienced to be felling trees.

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 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.

Isaiah Backhouse has always wanted to ride in a helicopter - but being whisked away in one after landing on his head wasn't how the 7-year-old imagined his first flight.

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.

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.

A late-model Aston Martin worth as much as $330,000 did not look so luxurious after crashing into a lamp post on Auckland's waterfront early yesterday.

One person is dead and nine vehicles are damaged after a van collided with a truck and trailer unit in south Waikato this afternoon.

Three Boston University students who died after a car crash near Taupo would likely have survived were they wearing seatbelts, a coroner has found.

Statistics NZ data shows fewer ACC claims but union believes they are misleading.

The drowsy driver who caused a head-on smash that killed Timaru financier Allan Hubbard has been fined $2500.

New figures show which industries are most likely to land workers with injuries - some of the 200,000 that flooded ACC last year.

Almost 7000 people will injure themselves this week - and nearly all of these will be the result of sport or other recreational activities.

Expert crash investigators will go head-to-head this week, arguing in court whether a taxi driver is guilty of careless driving causing the death of his unborn baby.