A horrific car accident killed Richard Todd's wife and left both his daughters injured - one so severely doctors warned him she may never recover.

A two-year-old child drowned in a hole containing water on a rural property near Gore yesterday afternoon.

An adventure company responsible for a rock-climbing expedition during which three people were swept to their deaths has pleaded guilty to failing to ensure their safety.

The driver of a van which rolled four times, killing three US tourists, screamed "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" as the vehicle flipped, an inquest has heard.

Three Canadian men who were in a plane that crashed into one of Antarctica's highest mountains have officially been pronounced dead by a NZ coroner.

Three American students killed when their van rolled near Turangi last year could be alive today if they had been wearing seatbelts, an inquest has heard.

A year after the Turangi crash that killed three US students, its most scarred survivor remains determined to return to thank those who saved her life.

The widow and mother of multi-millionaire Michael Erceg have gone to court in a dispute over the liquor tycoon's estate.

Provincial authorities in Thailand have shut down a biomass power plant following the deaths of Michael Coppins and a Thai colleague.

A man watched his brother plunge 50m on to rocks in a paragliding accident at a west Auckland beach yesterday.

The man who crashed into and killed a TV3 staff member was two times over the legal blood alcohol limit, police allege.

A Herald analysis of Transport Agency data collected from 67 districts has revealed the deadliest parts of the country in terms of personal risk to road users.

Charlotte Christie fears driving along the winding Gisborne-to-Wairoa road after writing off her car in a pile-up on a blind bend in which another motorist lost an arm.

An 83-year-old spent weeks in hospital after she was hit by a car and was then smacked with a bill for $1800 by the driver's insurance company.

A truck and trailer rolled in Waikato overnight but the driver was not injured.

The mother of a 12-year-old boy hit by a car as he walked home from school is being chased for damages by the driver's insurance company.

Allan Hubbard died in a head-on car crash caused by his elderly wife, not by the other driver accused of careless driving causing his death, a court has been told.

A mountain biker who plunged 9m to his death was not found until the next day after police decided to call off an area search, a coroner's finding has detailed.

For the first time since records began there has not been a single road death during the Queen's Birthday weekend, and police say it is a "very positive" result.

A survivor of a fire that gutted a Rotorua warehouse, killing teenage girl Mihinui Tamiana, tried to run back into the inferno to save her.

Police were tonight hoping for the first-ever Queen's Birthday weekend without a single road death.

A friend of a teen killed in a Rotorua fire claims the blaze was caused by a Molotov cocktail thrown into the building as partygoers slept.

A hunter has died after falling more than 10m onto rocks from a cable bridge near Hanmer Springs.

Teenagers hospitalised by the factory fire that killed 14-year-old Mihinui Tamiana will be interviewed by police investigating how the blaze started.