Otago Boys' High School rector Clive Rennie is backing the decisions of two teachers who had to be rescued along with 10 pupils from the Rock and Pillar Range on Saturday night.

When Scott Scheele slipped and fell 90 metres down a giant Himalayan cliff-face, triggering a terrifying avalanche, climbing buddy Ben Dare hardly dared to look down.

A Queenstown climber and the injured companion he rescued after a terrifying fall on a Himalayan mountain are hoping to head home this week.

A Queenstown climber involved in a dramatic Himalayan rescue says his injured companion is in a Kathmandu hospital but could be released within days.

An elderly man who survived a night lost in the cold and cuddled up to his dog for warmth was surprised his worried wife called police, saying he didn't want a fuss.

A missing 80-year-old Foxton man is being assessed for possible hypothermia after spending the night huddled in sand dunes with his dog.

A Queenstown climber's heroic actions are being hailed after he saved a climbing companion knocked unconscious by an avalanche high up a Himalayan mountain.

Taranaki rescue helicopter workers have received a top rescue award for saving the lives of 10 people stranded on New Plymouth's Paritutu Rock.

A number of senior management at St John will lose their jobs in a huge shake-up of the under-pressure ambulance service. A new uniform is also planned.

The boat that capsized near Greymouth this week will be salvaged today, the district's mayor says.

The Greymouth Coastguard took about 45 minutes to get to the wreck of the Lady Anna; after the skipper had been pulled from the water and pronounced dead.

The devastated father of the skipper, killed today when his boat capsized near Greymouth, has spoken about the pain of losing is only son in the tragedy.

A fisherman rescued from his sinking boat on Friday had survived a similar incident three years ago.

Two stricken hunters' lives were probably saved in Fiordland after they used their locator beacons to call for help, the Rescue Co-ordination Centre says.

A woman trapped down a steep rock face at the Omanawa Falls was airlifted to safety last night.

A hunter with hypothermia has been rescued after his campsite was washed away in Fiordland this morning.

Wearing a helmet may have saved the life of a climber who fell 140m on a rocky peak near Mt Awful, in the Mt Aspiring National Park, yesterday.

Two swimmers on Auckland's North Shore had to be rushed to hospital in the back of a police car because ambulances had been sent to higher priority jobs.

A search is expected to resume this morning at a Northland beach for a missing swimmer presumed drowned.

Police have launched a search for a 34-year-old Auckland man who was last seen off Northland's Uretiti Beach about 5pm yesterday.

An anxious mother cried tears of gratitude and relief after her 12-year-old son was dragged from the surf in a dramatic rescue at Napier's Marine Parade yesterday.

The father of a 12-year-old boy who was swept out to sea in heavy surf in Napier has thanked rescuers for forming a human chain that saved his son's life.

The body of a missing pilot has been found after a helicopter crash near Turangi yesterday.

A Napier couple, who got into trouble when strong winds pushed their boat near rocks on Lake Taupo, were rescued by helicopter overnight.

Two teenagers have been commended by police for their desperate efforts to save their friend after he failed to surface while swimming in the Waikato River.

A tramper has had to be airlifted out of Nelson Lakes National Park near Murchison after falling down a bank.