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.

The bodies came through the night and through the morning, their faces black with blood that had pooled and darkened under the skin.

After more than three days of frustration and failure, divers finally found a way into a submerged ferry off South Korea's southern shore.

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.

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 .

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.

A Mexican fisherman who says he drifted for months across the Pacific Ocean before washing up on a remote Marshall Islands atoll is on his way home.

A man is missing and another is fighting for his life after they fell from a waterfall south of Murchison yesterday.

The sole survivor of a boat capsize in Foveaux Strait which claimed the lives of eight people heard the screams of the only child on board just after a massive wave swamped the vessel in the middle of the night, a court has heard.

A New Zealander who survived being shipwrecked in shark-infested Fijian waters has lost part of his arm in an accident on board a foreign fishing vessel.