Otago Daily Times: National News

A pilot and a crew member had a lucky escape after their rescue helicopter crash landed near Taupo Hospital today.

An attack on a woman as she walked home near Victoria University in Wellington early this morning was sexually motivated, police say.

A male pedestrian who died after being struck by a vehicle on State Highway 1 in Mid-Canterbury has been named.

Local residents who assisted in retrieving a stranded truck containing the bodies of two men in the Eastern Bay of Plenty have been praised by the regional council.

Many storm-hit Kiwis will spend today cleaning up after days of destructive weather.

While the worst of the Easter storm that slammed the country may have passed, the effects of the heavy rain are still evident in many places, and several South Island roads remain closed.