Onlookers desperately tried to free a 7-year-old boy whose head became stuck in an electric gate near Auckland Botanic Gardens this afternoon.

A pregnant woman is in hospital after suffering critical injuries when the car she was driving and another vehicle collided in the Dome Valley.

Two Canterbury fires are being treated as suspicious after being discovered one street apart in the early hours of Saturday morning.

One person is in a critical condition follow a two-car crash on State Highway 1, just north of Tirau.

Panicked driver called emergency services, desperately seeking help, as his car hurtled along a motorway for eight minutes before the call ended abruptly.

Canterbury Civil Defence hopes to reopen one lane of the Inland Rd into Kaikoura tomorrow afternoon.

A man has died in a single car crash in Ahipara south east of Kaitaia.

A woman who was in one of the cars crushed when a 30m tree fell at Cornwall Park has been reunited with the man who came to her rescue.

More than 25 police staff remain in Kaikoura and the surrounding area offering reassurance to locals and offering their assistance.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said eight trucks were at the scene, and they were notified of it at 8.30pm.

A number of other patients remain in intensive care and one person is critical, the health minister said today.

Emergency services are in attendance at an airfield in Manawatu.

An American tourist was hit and killed by a truck in Tauranga after booking a cycling tour while visiting the city on the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice.

A woman and her son-in-law have told of the "horrific" moment a day out with family turned into a near-death experience.

A van had flipped on its roof, a police spokeswoman said.

An accident along Whanganui's Mosston Rd which knocked out power to nearly 200 homes has prompted calls for a speed camera in the

Emergency services are at the scene of a one car crash at the intersection of Waikite Valley Rd and SH5, south of Rotorua.

Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has been accused of vilifying a Geonet scientist who spoke out about the need for a better tsunami warning system in New Zealand.

TRAGEDY: Sixty-eight-year-old Bruce Smith died during the Sand to Surf event on Saturday. PHOTO/ANDREW WARNER 191116aw21bop By staff

Emergency services are attending the scene of a car crash involving 11 people in Christchurch, where there are concerns a fight could break out.

The family of an 11-year-old who was critically injured in a horror crash in Ngaruawahia had to turn off his life-support.

A 9-year-old boy in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital's Intensive Care Unit is one of seven young people hurt in a car crash in Ngaruawahia last night.

A man suffered serious head injuries after crashing into a power pole in Waiuku, and three others were injured in a Glenn Innes crash.

A van fleeing police has crashed into a bus, which was carrying passengers, on Khyber Pass Rd in Auckland.

The capital is coming to terms with the financial impact of the week's devastating earthquakes.

A string of motorists is stranded on State Highway 2 as authorities across the Wellington region prepare for evacuations.

Tourism leaders fear the image of New Zealand as a destination will be harmed by the earthquakes.

There are reports that a floor in Statistics House has pancaked onto the one below. Staff won't be returning for up to a year.

Little crime in Kaikoura overnight, but police now gearing up for traffic issues further north as weather worsens.

On an impulse, Jamie Brosnahan and Jonathon O'Neill spent Sunday night in Kaikoura. The Rotorua couple were heading for Hanmer Springs