The parents of the two overseas students who died when kayaking on Lake Tekapo are still waiting for their sons' bodies to return home.

One of the two men who died on Lake Tekapo should have already been home, but he loved his time downunder so much he stayed on for another term.

Rescuers yesterday revealed the lucky break that meant the toll from the Lake Tekapo kayaking tragedy was not worse.

The two young tourists who died after falling into Lake Tekapo yesterday have been named.

Passengers on the boat that capsized near Greece, and claimed the life of a toddler, say the toddler's father was working with smugglers and driving the boat.

A boss acting for the MV Rena's Greek owners has again said sorry for the ship's calamitous grounding four years ago.

Jeremy Charles Brons of Christchurch was swept away by a swollen Snowy River after a failed West Coast river crossing.

The wreck could pave the way to a bright and prosperous future, but a golden opportunity could easily be squandered if the wrong decisions are made, writes Roger Grace.

Ask your average Tauranga local about the Rena and you'll find they haven't thought about that not-too-distant hunk of steel in a long time.

A wooden fishing boat packed with at least 600 migrants overturned in the Mediterranean Sea and hundreds are feared dead.

A surfer's desperate attempt to fight off a shark that was mauling him has been described as a "Mick Fanning replay" by a friend who witnessed the attack.

A man who drowned after being thrown from a boat on the Waitara River mouth in Taranaki yesterday has been named by police.

Bay of Plenty Maori say they have been offered thousands of dollars to withdraw their opposition to leaving the Rena on Astrolabe Reef.

A total of 14 people have been rescued, but the vast majority of the 456 people on board, many of them elderly tourists, were unaccounted for.

A Paringa man whose jetboat struck a log on Monday evening had a lucky escape despite being “shot forward” into the bow of the boat and breaking his leg.

"This is one of New Zealand's biggest ports - if we can't contain this, how are we going to deal with off-shore drilling? I don't think we can really take the risk."

An Auckland boatie was killed and five died on the roads during a horror start to the long weekend.

A picture of a young boy who drowned off of the coast of the Greek island of Rhodes has come to represent the tragedy in the Mediterranean sea.

A shipwreck in which hundreds of people are feared dead may be one of the worst disasters of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The boat of two fishermen missing from Port Waikato since Monday may never be recovered, police say.

The search for two fishermen missing at Port Waikato enters its third day today. The police Eagle helicopter will search the area near the mouth of the river.

The families of two fishermen missing at Port Waikato endured a third anxious night waiting for any news of their loved ones.

The air search today for the two missing fisherman was unsuccessful, police say.

A fisherman missing with a friend after crossing the Port Waikato Bar usually stayed clear of the notoriously dangerous stretch of water.

A man rescued from a ledge after a fishing trip went horribly wrong was worried about what to tell his wife when he got home without any fish.

The search has resumed this morning for a 74-year-old man who has been missing since his boat capsized at Manukau Heads yesterday.

The doomed Costa Concordia was carrying a huge shipment of Mafia-owned cocaine when it set off on its final voyage, investigators have said.

Rusty wires caused a lifeboat to fall from its sling on a cargo ship in Wellington Harbour, injuring a crewman.