Family of a boy missing after falling into the Whakatane River are holding a silent vigil on the river bank this morning.

The Auckland Coastguard is usually the first point of contact when things go wrong out at sea.

A 15-year-old boy who suffered a serious head injury in the Tararua Ranges near Wellington yesterday has been airlifted out this morning after bad weather prevented rescuers from moving him sooner.

A person has been found dead after falling from a fishing vessel off the coast of Napier.

Police have found the Waipu woman who went missing from her home last night.

The three people rescued from a crippled sailboat in the Hauraki Gulf overnight were all wearing lifejackets but had no form of communication.

Three people have been rescued from a boat drifting in the Hauraki Gulf early this morning.

Wanja Drees was on the lower reaches of Mt Ruapehu with a badly broken leg and no mobile phone when he decided he would have to try and make his way out himself.

A teenager who fell 100m down Mt Ruapehu might have died if not for his quick thinking - and shoe laces.

A ill-equipped German tourist wearing street shoes had to drag himself to fetch help after a fall on Mt Ruapehu today left him with a bleeding, broken leg.

A paraponter spent about four hours perched precariously on a ridge with suspected spinal injuries after crashing in a remote Canterbury alpine range this afternoon.

A huge avalanche crashed frighteningly close to a rescue party as they treated a woman who had fallen some 300 metres down a Canterbury glacier after her snow anchor apparently detached.

An overseas climber has died after falling 600m on Aoraki Mount Cook this morning.

The two mountaineers who died on Mt Taranaki had little chance of surviving for two nights and a day in their shallow hole in the hard snow and freezing wind, says a leading local guide.

One of two climbers who died after being trapped on Mt Taranaki this weekend had texted her father saying she didn't expect to survive.

Search and rescue crews are scouring the Kahurangi National Park in "atrocious" weather for a French tramper who has been missing for three days.

A teenager who was rescued by two police officers from rough surf at a Hawkes Bay beach has paid tribute to his heroes.

The Taranaki Outdoor Pursuits Centre has escaped a fine for the tragedy on Paritutu Rock last year, but will still pay out $72,000 in reparations to families of victims and survivors.

Two police officers who dived into rough surf and formed a human chain to save a 12-year-old boy from drowning are set to receive the force's highest bravery award today.

A pair of US tourists had to be rescued by a police search and rescue team after becoming stranded on the banks of the Haast River yesterday afternoon.

A Japanese student spent a cold night in the Kaimai Ranges where she got lost yesterday.

A man has died after the boat he was in capsized in the sea off Northland today.

Police are appealing for help to locate a 61-year-old woman, missing in west Auckland.

Two people have been injured have a helicopter crashed this afternoon near the Waimakariri River in Canterbury.