A baby critically injured in a crash near Kopaki, Waikato, this morning was unrestrained on its mother's lap when the car hit a bank.

A South Korean man has drowned after diving into a popular river rockslide pool to save two children.

The parents of the German teenagers presumed drowned in Foveaux Strait are returning home and say they know they are leaving their daughters behind.

A baby who drowned at a popular marina is believed to have wriggled out of a stroller parked on a narrow walkway beside the water.

The operation to recover bodies from the ferry that sank off South Korea last month has been suspended because of heavy seas amid concern many of the missing may never be found.

A father saw his daughters' faces flash before him as he risked his life, diving into the surf to save two girls caught in a rip at a Hawkes Bay beach yesterday.

As the battle to free 290 from a sunken ferry in South Korea continues, it's emerged texts purported to be sent from trapped children were a hoax.

Sharks have forced themselves back into the minds of Australians.

A Northland family on a day trip and a local triathlete "jumped into action" to help save a 4-year-old boy after his father went into cardiac arrest.

'Foveaux Strait is an iffy strait'. A woman who lost four family members when the Easy Rider sank says she's distressed by the guilty verdict slapped on the skipper's widow.

Surfers rescued two men who were thrown from their boat while trying to enter the Buller River off Carters Beach, Westport.

A free diver who was dragged to the depths of the ocean by a killer whale has told how he got down to his "last breath" during the terrifying ordeal.

Stewart and Sonja Goodsir were on the water heading home after a day's fishing when they noticed the smoke.

When a bedraggled and bewildered Jose Salvador Alvarenga washed up on a remote Pacific atoll many were sceptical of his tale - but it's been backed by scientists.

A man has been arrested for drink-driving just 15 minutes after police rescued him and his friend when their jetboat got into difficulty in Queenstown last night.

Twelve Kiwi students set off on Monday on a 13-day voyage to the Auckland Islands .

'When it first happened I was like, I'm not even getting in the bathtub again.' But surfer Darren Mills has changed his mind, after his shark encounter.

Friends of experienced diver Bruce Porter have reacted with shock to his death after being hit by a boat.

Dramatic details of surfer Darren Mills' lucky escape from a shark attack emerged yesterday, as the British immigrant began his recovery from serious injuries.

It was meant to be a leisurely float down a river. But two men needed rescuing overnight after their lilos ran out of deep water and they ended trudging down a riverbed.

Half an hour before Fiona Gooder died while trying to save her foster daughter at a Northland beach, she sent her husband a text saying she "was in paradise".

Tired, panicking and gulping sea water, a grandfather struggled to hold on to his 8-year-old granddaughter in strong currents at an East Auckland beach yesterday.