A 10-year-old boy says he managed a 22km walk through Southland bush to safety because he watched the survival television series Man Vs. Wild "too much".

Backpackers and rescue specialists caught up in suspicions over behaviour after quake want an apology for 'stupid story'.

A diving course came to a tragic end after two people failed to surface and a third was hospitalised.

Families of the 29 victims of last year's Pike River mine disaster will seek answers on how their loved ones died when the Royal Commission into one of the country's worst disasters opens in Greymouth tomorrow.

The last time police were looking for Brett Hall, they discovered a drug-dealing empire.

Up to 80 personnel are searching rough country for missing man Brett Hall.