A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion found a fishing boat with engine failure before it drifted onto reefs near Tonga overnight.

An injured 30-year-old tramper has been flown to Nelson hospital after her husband tramped out of the Kahurangi National Park to get help.

The police-led rescue and recovery operation launched in the wake of the Pike River tragedy has cost nearly $11 million, according to figures in a detailed breakdown released this afternoon.

New Zealanders who risked their lives to save others have been recognised at the New Zealand Search and Rescue Awards.

Rescuers have appealed for help in their search for a former Olympic sailor missing since taking off in his microlight.

The wife of a former Olympic sailor and prominent businessman was last night waiting in hope for news.

Handwritten letters from students in Feilding have warmed the hearts of emergency service workers in quake-stricken Christchurch.

Police have found an American tourist who was missing in the Urewera National Park for two nights.

A body has been pulled from the water after a light plane crashed into the ocean near Orewa Beach, north of Auckland. Pieces of the wreckage are washing up on the beach.

Kiwi rescue team members return to NZ today after a week searching for bodies in rubble and icy blizzards in Japan.

Freezing temperatures accompany hunt for survivors in devastated coastal town

Two New Zealand rescue workers in Japan have had to be decontaminated after they were found to have been exposed to radiation after landing at the Fukushima airport.