The lost English tourist spotted by a helicopter last night in the Kahurangi National Park says he can't describe the relief he felt when he was found.

The English tourist found last night in the Kahurangi National Park had become disoriented and confused the route he was on for another.

A large search is underway for a missing 30-year-old English tourist, tramping in Kahurangi National Park west of Nelson.

The 33 miners rescued from inside a Chilean mine last year had considered suicide and cannibalism, it has emerged.

A rescue boat skipper made one of the toughest decisions of his life today as he tried to rescue two boaties from the boiling surf at Kawhia on the North Island's west coast.

Police say four people are lucky to be alive after two boats capsized on the Kawhia bar in Waikato today and are praising two local boaties and two commercial vessels for their quick rescue.

Police searching for a missing Roxburgh man have found a body in the Clutha River.

An elderly Auckland man survived a Fiordland flood by sitting on a rock for almost two days as water lapped around him.

A search will resume today for a missing man thought to have been swept away in a river in Central Otago.

Grave fears are held for a man believed to have fallen into the Clutha River in central Otago this afternoon.

A police search and rescue team looking for missing Pahiatua man John Campbell have found a body. Mr Campbell, 64, was last seen leaving his Pahiatua home, in the Tararua district, for work at 6.45am yesterday.

A tramper from the Czech Republic who broke both legs after a sheer 30m fall on to jagged rocks in the Buckler Burn near Glenorchy on Lake Wakatipu, may have survived only because he landed on his pack.