Emergency Incidents

Firefighters are responding to bushfires in Perth's north and south that are threatening lives and homes on a sweltering spring day.

The 83-year-old woman was rushed to hospital with a 150cm garden stake "sticking out of her neck" after she tripped and fell while gardening.

George Griffin, 12, said he and his friends were "pretty scared" at first, but used their surf life saving training to save two teenage girls, and a mother and her three children, from the waves on Saturday — the second rescue by teens at Kiama within days.

Rescuers trying to reach workers trapped in a collapsed highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas since last weekend, suspend work temporarily after hearing a sudden "cracking sound".

Investigators say a man in his 30s was found on the road early this morning with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his neck.

Darryl Martin was digging trenches in an attempt to divert water away from his house when he collapsed. Luckily for him, help was at hand.

An emergency warning has been downgraded for the Hudson bushfire burning in the Narran Lake Reserve in north-west New South Wales, but authorities are bracing for similar conditions on Thursday.

A NSW Central West community's "true spirit" has shone through in the year since it was smashed by flooding which took lives and livelihoods.

At least 40 Indian workers trapped inside a collapsed Himalayan highway tunnel will spend a second night there, pending the arrival of rescue material. 

Alwyn and Jenny Rogash are being remembered as "active, enthusiastic aviators" after a plane crash last month.

Police say the man, who set off from Bramwell Station, was "well prepared" for the fishing trip but note it is a known crocodile habitat.

Police declare a crime scene after an altercation between two men in central Brisbane.

A 70-year-old woman has died after being crushed by a falling tree during a storm in the Lockyer Valley.

A three-month recovery mission for a defence helicopter that crashed into the sea off Queensland's Whitsunday Coast has ended, but investigations into the incident are ongoing.

Paramedics say it's incredible no one was hurt after two people were winched from a life raft after a light plane crash off the Sunshine Coast.

A string of shootings early this morning sparked a manhunt that ended with two arrests on the NSW Mid North Coast this afternoon. Police are continuing to investigate a potential link to a body found near the scene of one of the offences.

Fire crews battling a massive haystack blaze in northern Victoria faced windy conditions and ember attack through the night, with a veteran fire captain saying it was the "worst fire I've ever witnessed".

It is the second fatal gym collapse in the Chinese province in just a few months, after 11 people were killed when a school gym was destroyed in July.

Police chief commissioner describes scenes for first responders at the Daylesford crash as confronting, chaotic and distressing, saying it was an 'absolute tragedy'.

Two boys aged between 10 and 15 years old die in a car crash in Sydney's south-west, with police searching for another two people who allegedly fled the scene.

Mount Isa police say a disaster victim identification unit would arrive on-site Monday morning to aid in the recovery of those killed in a plane crash on Saturday.

An intensive weather system that hit Wollongong on Saturday night temporarily closed roads and the south coast rail line, caused significant damage to properties, and the cancellation of an annual charity bike ride.

The hostage situation at Hamburg airport ends with the suspect and his four-year-old daughter exiting a car, police said, after an 18-hour ordeal that closed northern Germany's busiest airport.

Specialist police are on their way out to remote Queensland and four aircraft have been grounded after three people died in a plane crash while fighting fires.

Queensland's fire service has offered its deepest condolences to the families of those onboard, and confirmed the aircraft had been contracted to support the Queensland bushfire response.