A plane carrying 44 people has safely made an emergency landing at Blenheim Airport, despite a nose wheel failure.

A sentence of home detention for a bar owner who killed a patron is a "mockery" to the family, the victim's father says.

Roads and vehicles must be "more forgiving" to curb a road toll which averages more than one death a day, the AA says. Figures released by the Ministry of Transport today show 371 people died on the roads over the past year.

Christchurch's Boxing Day aftershocks and the recent wet weather have seen more than 1000 claims lodged with the Earthquake Commission.

Campers fled on foot in darkness at the Pelorus Bridge Camp today as a flood with enough power to lift caravans hit the idyllic holiday spot, 59km northwest of Blenheim.

She's lucky to be alive, but 12-year-old Jacqueline Wyatt will have to learn to walk again.

When Blenheim couple Pat and Pam Heagney heard the jury verdict "guilty" in the High Court at Wellington this afternoon, they dissolved into loud sobs.

New Zealand's road to the 2012 London Olympic begins in Adelaide this weekend at the Oceania track championships.

The family of a schoolgirl fighting for her life after falling under a truck has told the distraught driver not to 'beat himself up'.

An ex-policeman convicted over an accident which seriously injured two motorcyclists has been found guilty of driving a moped while disqualified.