A man who fell several metres into the rough sea while fishing from rocks in Wairarapa today was rescued by a local fishing boat.

Martin lies in agony, his clavicle broken and three fingers mangled beyond recognition. He has no idea what is about to happen.

A helicopter emergency locator beacon was set off accidentally on Saturday, prompting a second warning from police in only two weeks.

Waiheke Island residents have rallied to help the Auckland rescue helicopter service which made 265 trips there last year and needs an all-weather landing pad.

A fisherman roped himself to a buoy in Tauranga Harbour after his kayak was swamped with water.

A man whose brother and father have been found alive almost 24 hours after going missing on a fishing trip says he feared he would never see them again.

The brother of an instructor who died after being swept off Taranaki's Paritutu Rock into the sea, says he is not angry with the company his brother worked for.

An injured man was winched to safety after the boat he was in became wrecked on rocks near St Clair, in Dunedin, on Saturday.

Searchers will spend the next two days scouring the shoreline near Bowentown after a man went missing when his boat capsized off the Bay of Plenty coast.

Two boaties have spoken about the moment they came across a family who survived a capsizing that left a father missing off the Bay of Plenty coast.

A Waihi beach fisherman has told of how he found an upside-down boat at Bowentown Heads last night, shortly before a search was mounted for a missing man.

Plans are under way to recover the bodies of three Canadian men believed killed in a plane crash in Antarctica after the wreckage of the aircraft was found on Saturday.

Mountaineers on Mt Cook have told rescuers of the moment a rock slide came surging towards them and described it as both terrifying and "pretty amazing".

Two Dunedin students rescued from remote bush say the biggest lesson learned from their ordeal is to always carry a locator beacon in the backcountry.

A helicopter was dispatched from Te Anau with a doctor and police staff, but when they arrived at the scene the man was pronounced dead.

When high waves stranded a father and his 8-year-old son on a sheer rock at Whakatane, Chantal Lillas knew exactly what risks she would have to take to reach them.

A paraglider pilot escaped with minor injuries when he crashed in steep bush in the Marlborough Sounds last night.

Two people have been rescued from a steep mountain range in the Spenser Mountain area, near Nelson.

A man and his eight-year-old son were winched to safety after rising tides trapped the pair on rocks at Whakatane heads this afternoon.

An unnecessary search and rescue callout on New Year's Day has police urging holidaymakers to advise others before starting off on expeditions.

A twenty-year-old who was missing for 24 hours on a mountain battered by severe storms has been found "walking, talking and cold", police say.