A man who went fly-fishing and disappeared was rescued after activating a personal locator beacon.

The body of a kayaker has been found on a beach near the mouth of the Waiau River, Tuatapere.

A desperate plea by 15 bystanders for passing jetboats to rescue a 30-year-old struggling in the chilly waters of the Hokitika Gorge were ignored by the boaties.

Twenty people have rescued an American tourist from a West Coast cave after the woman suffered a suspected broken leg yesterday.

A search and rescue operation is underway near Queenstown after a German tourist failed to return a locator beacon by his "panic date".

As a stricken surfer clung to a cave roof while being buffeted by huge waves, Tai Kahn leaped from a helicopter into the churning seas to save the teen's life.

Divers have retrieved a black box from the crashed AirAsia flight from the bottom of the Java Sea, officials say.

The family of a 25-year-old man who went missing while snorkelling in Northland this afternoon are scouring the beach for any sign of him.

Searchers looking for a tramper missing in rugged country in the South Island have found tracks leading to a river - but none coming out.

The first official Indonesian report on the AirAsia crash says the accident was caused by "icing" that damaged the plane's engines - a finding experts immediately doubted.

A temporary break in poor weather yesterday failed to help the search for wreckage from AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

The family of an Australian climber missing for four days on New Zealand's tallest mountain are coming to terms with fears he is probably dead.

An intoxicated man who walked into the sea at a Christchurch beach fully clothed this morning is missing and presumed drowned.

Family tells how their holiday sightseeing trip turned into rescue operation after spotting stricken men in the water: "You just think about trying to find the next person."

An Indonesian official last night said objects had been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.

An Auckland woman and a local man were rescued from a rip at Mt Maunganui.

Up to $10,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on a rescue in Northland over the weekend for a group of Aucklanders "who were not in real danger", police say.

The Air Force says crew on a new helicopter rescued a missing tramper on the chopper's debut mission.

Police and volunteer search and rescue teams are looking for a missing 21 year-old tramper.

Rescuers from outside Aoraki Mt Cook had to be brought in to recover the body of a mountaineer, who was himself a rescuer based at Mt Cook village.

The body of a man who drowned at McLaren Falls in the Bay of Plenty yesterday has been recovered.

A search is underway after a French tourist went missing on a mountain hike in Arthur's Pass National Park.

The search and recovery effort for an experienced climber who died on the country’s highest mountain has resumed this morning.

An Auckland man who drowned while having a swim yesterday was remembered as being a "very happy and jolly guy" by his heartbroken friend last night.