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.

Entombed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in an upended tugboat for three days, Harrison Odjegba Okene begged God for a miracle.

A young Waikato girl who heard a German teen's cries for help on Mt Ruapehu says he is "incredibly lucky" to be alive.

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.

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.

Two Auckland climbers are facing a second night in a snow cave on Mount Taranaki with no overnight equipment, after rescuers were driven back by foul weather today.

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.

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.

The canine heroes and victims of Christchurch’s earthquakes are immortalised in a new book by Laura Sessions and Craig Bullock.

A Chinese backpacker who survived three days without food or equipment, as poor weather closed in, didn't know bushes were dangerous.

A Chinese backpacker missing at National Park, Ruapehu since Sunday has been found alive, police said.

A rescue helicopter has been scrambled to search for two hunters lost in the snow in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.

Emergency workers deal with life-and-death situations every day but there are some call-outs they will never forget. Three such heroes tell their stories to Veronica Schmidt.