A navy damage control team has boarded a burning ocean-going tug off Northland hours after the crew abandoned ship when fire broke out in the engine room.

A toddler who died after receiving a serious head injury had a skull which looked like "smashed glass", a court has heard.

A mystery woman leapt into the sea to save a boy, 4, who was floating face down and being carried into deeper water on the outgoing tide.

Details of a young girl's ordeal and that of two others were revealed during the sentencing of their attacker, Keith Stewart Luke.

Police are investigating claims parents have organised after-school fights between Northland teenagers to settle playground disputes.

Whale's calls of distress brought mother and brother dangerously close to shore.

Neighbours heard the roar of a car engine before it hit the kerb and became airborne twice before skidding into the creek on its side.

Tahi, once an old farm, is now a haven for endangered bird life, says Jim Eagles.

Police have identified the two victims of the worst New Zealand port tragedy in years.

Two crewmen died of suffocation and another was critically hurt in a log ship's hold at Marsden Pt wharf yesterday.

Two crewmen are dead after suffocating in a ship's timber hold at Marsden Point wharf near Whangarei this afternoon.