A national emergency text service was affected by a technical outage today, police say.

Firefighters have managed to contain a large plantation fire north of Christchurch which at its peak saw the evacuation of 40 nearby homes.

Former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin is recovering in hospital after being revived by an Air New Zealand crew shortly after take-off, it has been confirmed.

A woman is dead after a car crashed into a pole on Auckland's southern motorway this morning, while a man died after crashing his motorbike on sand dunes at Port Waikato.

A passenger sitting in front of a man who suffered a suspected heart attack on a flight from Dunedin to Wellington this morning has praised the crew who resuscitated him.

A 50-year-old woman was flown to Rotorua Hospital with serious injuries after a car crashed into a power pole yesterday at 5.45pm.

Up to $10,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on a rescue in Northland over the weekend for a group of Aucklanders "who were not in real danger", police say.

A fisherman who was swept 200m out to sea after he slipped and his waders filled up with water, had a lucky escape, says a man who helped get him on to dry land.

A far north Queensland community is grieving the death of an 18-year-old man who was attacked by a shark in front of shocked friends.

Critically injured Auckland patients have a better chance of survival on their way to the hospital with rescue helicopters in the city now carrying blood for emergency transfusions.

A 7-year-old boy died after being hit by a vehicle driven by his father, who couldn't see he was behind the ute because of a blind spot as he reversed down a driveway, a coroner has found.

Fire crews are fighting a "well involved" house fire in Stanmore Bay on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, north of Auckland.

A female motorcyclist who crashed on the Southern Motorway yesterday has died in hospital this morning.

Three motorbike crashes on the country's roads this weekend have left five people hospitalised.

A pregnant woman has been flown to hospital after being hit by a car near Nelson.

A large fire has destroyed a farm house on Great Barrier Island after it was spotted by off-duty Fire Service staff staying at a hotel on the island.

An Otago man on a suspended licence continued driving a car as it fell apart around him, only stopping when the engine finally gave up.

A car driven by tourists was seen on the wrong side of the road shortly before it crashed on the West Coast of the South Island yesterday, killing one.

Smoke alarms are not most people's idea of a Christmas present, but the Fire Service wants us to think about them anyway.

Ten Kiwis have died in house fires this year where working smoke alarms hadn't been installed.