The family of a New Zealander killed instantly when she was struck by a falling tree branch in London has thanked those who came to her aid.

The family of a Canadian woman killed in a road accident on a Waitomo intersection say they are shocked to learn another tourist's life has been taken there.

Investigations are underway after an Auckland ferry's mayday call during an evening commuter run, with 60 people on board.

The American honeymooner involved in a horror crash that killed her young husband remains in a critical condition in hospital with her parents at her side.

Aiden Lints has finally come home to Te Puke, after the three-year-old overcome injuries suffered in a major car crash.

The motorist who had a miraculous escape when her vehicle collided with a train in Canterbury had just visited her sister's grave.

An American man was killed and his new wife seriously injured when their car and a cement truck collided on a deadly intersection near the Waitomo Caves holiday spot.

The ACC has partially backed down on a new privacy initiative adopted in the wake of the Bronwyn Pullar affair but which was criticised as costly and inconvenient for clients.

A woman who died when she was hit by a train today near Ashburton had been the subject of a police pursuit earlier this morning.

A man whose son drowned when his ute rolled into a pond on the West Coast was suffering from a terminal brain tumour he did not know about at the time, a family friend says.