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 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 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.

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.

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.

Trainee journalist Zac Fleming was on his way to work at the Herald on Sunday when he almost became the latest car fatality. He tells his story.

An expectant mum who miscarried after a car crash in Auckland is furious the driver at fault escaped with what she sees as only a slap on the wrist.