Young victims

Two children who died on Northland roads in separate crashes days before Christmas have been named by police. Joshwyn Reihana-ruka, 6, died on Friday when the car he was in rolled on State Highway 12 near Omanaia. On the same day 5-year-old Jahquin Sadler died in a single vehicle crash in Whangarei. A police spokeswoman said both crashes remained under investigation.

Two quakes felt

Residents in Marlborough and the Wellington region were shaken by a 4.2 magnitude earthquake early on Wednesday morning. The quake struck at 12.40am 15 kilometres southeast of the Marlborough town of Seddon at a depth of 20km. It follows a 3.8 magnitude quake at 7.17pm on Tuesday 10km southwest of Wellington at a depth of 40km.

Fisherman found dead

A fisherman reported to have disappeared while wading in Golden Bay has been found dead. Queenstown man Mark Noel Salmons, 49, was in chest-deep water north of Pakawau when he got into difficulties about 3pm on Boxing Day.

Search for boat

A search is under way for a boat with nine people aboard missing near Fiji. The New Zealand Defence Force sent a P-3K2 Orion aircraft from Auckland to help with the search on Wednesday morning. The boat was heading for Tovu on the island of Totoya when a local search and rescue operation was activated on Christmas Day.

Cliff jump goes awry

An 81-year-old grandfather who had been jumping off the same 6-metre cliff for years has suffered serious injuries during a Boxing Day plunge. Aaron Knight, of the Auckland Westpac rescue helicopter, said the man was attempting to jump off a cliff at Little Manly Beach on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula in north Auckland. The jump was something of a neighbourhood tradition, Knight said.