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.

An Auckland woman and a local man were rescued from a rip at Mt Maunganui.

Up to $10,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on a rescue in Northland over the weekend for a group of Aucklanders "who were not in real danger", police say.

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.

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 Auckland man who drowned while having a swim yesterday was remembered as being a "very happy and jolly guy" by his heartbroken friend last night.

A man who fell from a ridge on the country's tallest mountain is dead, police have confirmed.

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 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.

Authorities searching for fisherman Nick Stubbs were yesterday still unable to find any trace of him.

A 16-year-old boy whose family was thrown into rough seas on a fatal boat trip scrambled to shore, clambered up a 30-metre cliff face and hiked 2km to get help.

A missing diabetic Mount Maunganui man drew on all his survival instincts after suffering a head injury after he fell down a ridge while hunting on the East Cape.