Ten people were hurt in three separate crashes on a notorious stretch of highway in just six hours yesterday.

A decorated soldier's family have spoken of their grief at his death in a crash that broke every rule.

A horror crash north of Tauranga which killed three people was "like a war zone", police say.

The Pike River mine tragedy would not have happened if NZ had maintained a mining inspector programme canned more than a decade ago, a mining expert says. He says families are right to be furious at the Govt for interfering in mine safety.

Quick-witted rescuers scrawled a line in the beach to point others to the site of a helicopter crash.

The father of a man killed in a collision has told his son's friends to remember him when they get into a car.

In a scene straight out of a desert island castaway story, a line scrawled in the beach pointed rescuers to a helicopter crash in the sea near Whangarei today, helping save a pilot's life.

An air search has started off the Northland coast after reports an aircraft may have crashed into the sea.

A snorkeller has been called the 'luckiest guy in the world' after his life was saved by two cruise boat skippers.

John Key has defended police in the wake of a damning report and a much criticised decision to end recovery efforts at Pike River Coal mine.

The father of a miner who died at Pike River has accused police and the Government of withholding information that shows bodies may be recovered intact from the explosion-hit coal mine.