Three people killed in a horror smash in Central Otago this afternoon were all foreign nationals, police say.

A man police were seeking following a death at a rural West Auckland address last night has been found in Wanganui.

A 40-year-old man who was pinned under a tree in Marlborough this morning had been tutoring forestry students at the time.

A St John Ambulance trial in which nurses call people back to assess their condition before sending an ambulance is being criticised by patients.

Two men are in hospital, with one in critical condition, after a crash early today.

When Andrew Hedge comes to the aid of the sick and dying, a look of calm crosses the patient's face.

The daughter of a woman who died during an emergency callout did not know for months of problems with the equipment.

The arrival of chief executive Peter Bradley has been balm to the often-troubled souls who work for St John.

The death of a 39-year-old at an onshore oil rig in Taranaki today remains unexplained.

A car veered onto a footpath and struck two students walking outside Burnside High School this morning, police say.

A Queenstown man says he feels lucky to be alive after his ute plunged 40 metres off a bridge and landed upside-down in the Kawarau river near Arrowtown yesterday.

'How the hell he got out, we're still shaking our heads.' Rescuers believe the driver of a vehicle who survived a 40m plunge over a bridge should buy a Lotto ticket.

A day at the beach has turned to tragedy for the family of a seven-year-old boy who has died after a hole he was digging collapsed on him at a Northland beach.

St John's Ambulance have described the attack on a sole female officer who was assaulted after she responded to a fake call for help in Hamilton as "absolutely despicable''.

A motorcyclist suffered life-threatening injuries in East Auckland yesterday after colliding with a vehicle and being flipped into the path of another rider.