A temporary break in poor weather yesterday failed to help the search for wreckage from AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

The family of an Australian climber missing for four days on New Zealand's tallest mountain are coming to terms with fears he is probably dead.

An intoxicated man who walked into the sea at a Christchurch beach fully clothed this morning is missing and presumed drowned.

Family tells how their holiday sightseeing trip turned into rescue operation after spotting stricken men in the water: "You just think about trying to find the next person."

An Indonesian official last night said objects had been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.

Police have named three people who have died in water-related accidents so far this holiday season.

Family members of a missing teenager were keeping an emotional vigil on a Northland beach last night - the latest incident in a horror start to the holiday season in the water.

The Air Force says crew on a new helicopter rescued a missing tramper on the chopper's debut mission.

Police and volunteer search and rescue teams are looking for a missing 21 year-old tramper.

Rescuers from outside Aoraki Mt Cook had to be brought in to recover the body of a mountaineer, who was himself a rescuer based at Mt Cook village.

The body of a man who drowned at McLaren Falls in the Bay of Plenty yesterday has been recovered.

A search is underway after a French tourist went missing on a mountain hike in Arthur's Pass National Park.

The search and recovery effort for an experienced climber who died on the country’s highest mountain has resumed this morning.

An off-duty postie and an injured engineer held an elderly woman's head above water as she sat trapped in her car which had rolled down a bank and plunged into a stream.

Early on Saturday morning, American Osprey aircraft whirred over the Yemeni coast from the Gulf of Aden, flying above the rugged mountains of Shabwe province.

A person is missing after falling from a bridge, sparking a search effort in the Waitemata Harbour this morning.

A 19-year-old woman who spent a "helpless and hopeless" night stranded on Mt Ngauruhoe wearing a hoodie and yoga pants, says she will never go tramping again.

A team of search and rescue specialists and police were "preparing for the worst" while searching for a woman who spent a night 1500m up Mt Ngauruhoe.

A woman survived a freezing night 1500m up Mt Ngauruhoe after she became separated from her group and climbed the wrong mountain.

An engineering student has designed and built a remote-control robotic snake which he hopes can be used for search and rescue missions.

Searchers can now locate and rescue people missing somewhere in a staggeringly large area in as little as 40 minutes thanks to advancing technology.