KiwiRail is offering full refunds to Tranz Alpine passengers as it anticipates the fire-hit rail link between Canterbury and the West Coast could be out for at least six weeks.

An English visitor who found Shelley Crooks six weeks after she was reported missing describes the moment the pair met on a West Coast track.

Pike River Mine families have been granted a meeting with PM Bill English, on February 15, as Parliamentary committee considers sealing of mine.

An outdoors survival expert says water and shelter were the keys to staying alive for unexpected and lengthy times in the bush.

"Nobody knows, until it actually happens to you." - Raywynne Richmond's 42-year-old daughter, Kim, has been missing for six months.

A fire burning on the tracks of the Christchurch to Greymouth rail line has brought the TranzAlpine and some freight services to a

The Local Government Commission's review of the structure of local government on the West Coast is a "complete waste of money", says Westland Mayor Bruce Smith.

An unexploded mortar shell found by children at the historic goldmining town of Waiuta has been deactivated by the army bomb disposal squad.

Police investigating the disappearance of Shelly Crooks, last seen at Punakaiki, are appealing for sightings of a female hitch-hiker and a sedan.

Two neighbours are in court over loud music one describes as screeching classical-type music and the other as soothing jazz or Dave Dobbyn.

Police have released more information about the movements of a woman who has been missing since December 22.

A West Coast woman was granted final name suppression after she was convicted yesterday on two counts of forging a document for financial gain, defrauding others of $30,000.

About 250 people were bused up the hillside to the Strongman Mine site on Saturday for a poignant ceremony to commemorate the tragedy there 50 years ago.

Man charged with disorderly behaviour after firing Nerf guns in Greymouth McDonald's restaurant.

South Island police are concerned for the wellbeing of two missing people and ask anyone with information to contact them.

More than 200 people gathered this morning for a minute's silence 50 years on from the Strongman Mine disaster.

Both the Grey and Buller rivers were still rising at noon today, but civil defence said the rate had slowed.

NZTA is prioritising clearing Lewis Pass, the main transport link between Picton and Christchurch since November's big earthquake.

Strongman mine disaster happened 50 years ago next week. Paul McBride catches up with the five surviving members of the Mines Rescue teams.

A minute's silence will be observed in Greymouth on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Strongman Mine disaster which claimed 19 lives.

Next week's 50th anniversary of the Strongman Mine disaster may be the last opportunity for many to remember the 1967 tragedy.

Police should not have twice Tasered a drunk West Coast man, authority rules.

Actor and film director Ian Mune slammed the Government today as he joined protesters at the Pike River Mine entrance.

Hundreds of tourists are milling around downtown Greymouth at weekends and evenings.

The West Coast has held on to its dubious record as the wettest place in New Zealand, albeit in the Southern Alps.

Motorists travelling between the West Coast and Canterbury today were urged to go through Lewis Pass after an early morning fire at

Alpine Pure last year renewed its consents with the West Coast Regional Council, and has applied to do the same with the Westland District Council.

New alcohol rules imposed on the Kumara Nuggets race meeting on January 14 have resulted in a sting in the tail for punters.

A laser light was pointed at a trans-Tasman jet flying over Greymouth last evening.

DoC says there is significant arsenic, mercury and cyanide contamination of the soil at the Alexander River mine site.