Police have released the name of the Gisborne man who is missing, believed drowned, after Monday night's kayaking tragedy at Pouawa.

The search for a man who reportedly fell off rocks in the Bay of Plenty into the sea about 5pm yesterday is being scaled back.

An Australian tourist sparked a full-scale search operation in Waikato yesterday - with a helicopter search by police eventually locating him sunbathing at a beach.

A 49-year-old boatie believed to be dead after falling off a boat at the mouth of the Hutt River has been identified as Uikilifi Peniamina.

Grieving family members have identified the body pulled from a Wairarapa river as that of a missing 19-year-old swimmer.

The search for the body of a 49-year-old Wellington boatie is focused on the eastern coast of Wellington Harbour.

A search has resumed for a man who fell off a boat in Wellington Harbour yesterday afternoon.

A father and son have been found safe and well this morning after spending a night in a at the base of a cliff following a kayaking trip that went wrong off the Canterbury coast.

Forensic experts will try to identify the body of a man found on a walking track in the Coromandel as public appeals fail to shed any light.

Family of a boy missing after falling into the Whakatane River are holding a silent vigil on the river bank this morning.

The Auckland Coastguard is usually the first point of contact when things go wrong out at sea.

A 15-year-old boy who suffered a serious head injury in the Tararua Ranges near Wellington yesterday has been airlifted out this morning after bad weather prevented rescuers from moving him sooner.

A person has been found dead after falling from a fishing vessel off the coast of Napier.

Police have found the Waipu woman who went missing from her home last night.

The three people rescued from a crippled sailboat in the Hauraki Gulf overnight were all wearing lifejackets but had no form of communication.

Three people have been rescued from a boat drifting in the Hauraki Gulf early this morning.

Entombed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in an upended tugboat for three days, Harrison Odjegba Okene begged God for a miracle.

A young Waikato girl who heard a German teen's cries for help on Mt Ruapehu says he is "incredibly lucky" to be alive.

Wanja Drees was on the lower reaches of Mt Ruapehu with a badly broken leg and no mobile phone when he decided he would have to try and make his way out himself.