A team of search and rescue specialists and police were "preparing for the worst" while searching for a woman who spent a night 1500m up Mt Ngauruhoe.

A woman survived a freezing night 1500m up Mt Ngauruhoe after she became separated from her group and climbed the wrong mountain.

An engineering student has designed and built a remote-control robotic snake which he hopes can be used for search and rescue missions.

Searchers can now locate and rescue people missing somewhere in a staggeringly large area in as little as 40 minutes thanks to advancing technology.

A missing diabetic Mount Maunganui man drew on all his survival instincts after suffering a head injury after he fell down a ridge while hunting on the East Cape.

A piece of paper caught in a tree led searchers to the wreckage of a missing helicopter and the body of pilot Damian Webster in Kahurangi National Park.

A series of poor decisions and missed opportunities may have contributed to the deaths of two climbers after they spent two freezing nights stuck near the summit of Mt Taranaki.

The body of a 65-year-old cyclist has been recovered from a bank near an Otago cycle track today.

Wayne Redman clung to the upturned hull of his boat for hours in icy-cold water fearing he might not survive.

Coffee and Weet-Bix were what a fisherman needed after spending four hours in the cold waters of Tauranga Harbour.

Wayne Stevens got involved in Land Search and Rescue in 1984, while a student in the tramping club at Wellington's Victoria University.

The body of a 21-year-old climber who slipped and fell to his death on Mt Aspiring last night has been recovered by a search team.

A Christchurch man who was killed by an avalanche may have ignored the risks of an avalanche on the day he died, a coroner's finding says.

An Italian exchange student who was lost in the Wainuiomata bush for almost 24 hours has been found.

A frightened woman who watched her climbing companion slip on ice and fall 300m was helped to safety in a dramatic mountain rescue on Whakapapa skifield.

A mountain climber has suffered serious head injuries after falling 300m down Mt Ruapehu today.

A woman who was swept to her death in a flood-swollen Bay of Islands river was a 28-year-old mother from Wellington.

Rescuers trying to save people at a house party deluged by floodwaters were abused by those they were trying to help.