The Prime Minister says it's "disappointing" the Pike River Coal receivers have asked the Government for aid and that it is unlikely to pay their legal bill during the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Maritime New Zealand has launched an inquiry into the Fullers GreatSights Bay of Islands vessel Excitor III after several passengers were injured, including one woman who had to spend 12 weeks in a body brace.

Three young girls were having the time of their lives before two were killed in a horrific boating accident yesterday.

Cash-strapped company Pike River Coal Ltd says it can only afford a limited role in the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

A teacher who crashed her car while brushing her teeth told police she had lost concentration.

Howls from a child trapped in a burning house compelled an 18-year-old neighbour to dash inside. "That was a cry that you would never hear in your life," said Wiremu Ropata, who was watching television at home and getting ready to go to bed

A driver in Melbourne survived an incredible six-storey plunge from a carpark building.

A woman has driven a car off the edge of a multi-storey car park in Melbourne, falling up to six floors to the ground.

A woman who happened across a fatal road accident in west Auckland yesterday discovered the dead man was her partner.

Jo Knowsley investigates the truth behind this week's sensational story from Piha beach.

An Australian man has been hospitalised with a fractured leg after a rock crashed into him while he was hiking on Mt Ngauruhoe in the Tongariro National Park today.

Firefighter Merv Neil has won a New Zealand Bravery Award for his fearless work in the Waikato coolstore fire.