Disasters, Accidents and Emergency Incidents

The Barrier Highway which connects Broken Hill to Dubbo and Sydney has been closed by major flooding with waters still expected to rise.

Most Australians will receive a mobile phone alert in July this year, as part of a nationwide test of a new emergency warning system.

Switzerland's governing Federal Council says it will make a one-off payment to severely injured survivors and bereaved families of the New Year bar fire in the ski resort of Crans-Montana that killed 41 people.

A tropical low is sitting over the south-eastern part of the Northern Territory, bringing the risk of heavy rainfall to parts of western Queensland that are already flooding. 

After a deadly Hong Kong fire that killed 168 people and left thousands homeless in November, authorities have announced a buy-out offer for owners. 

Rescue helicopter arrives after avalanche near Italy's Courmayeur.

Rescue team departs to the site of an avalanche in California's Sierra Nevada mountains where a group of skiers were stranded. 

Rescue crews battle blizzard conditions to reach back-country skiers who survived the avalanche but were left trapped by its snow and ice.

Audio of Austin Appelbee's incredible Triple Zero call after a marathon swim to save family has been released by police.

Police release the recording of the Triple Zero call made by 13-year-old Austin Appelbee after his marathon 4 kilometre swim through rough seas to save his family.

Piper James's parents are leaving Australia with their daughter's ashes and a determination to ensure she hasn't died in vain.

Rescuers have saved nearly 70 skiers who were stranded for hours, with some trapped up to 21 metres in the air, after a gondola malfunction in New York.

A judge describes Vladimir Motin as "an accident waiting to happen" as he hands the Russian national a six-year jail term.

It is now more than four months since Gus Lamont went missing from his family's home in South Australia's outback, with the case being declared a major crime on Thursday. Here's what has happened so far.  

Australians working in Japan's ski fields say while the sport has unpredictable risks, there are ways to be prepared.

K'gari traditional owners have held a smoking ceremony for Piper James, who died on the island last month, to give her spirit a safe passage home.

Michael Hurst had a medical episode and died on the slopes in Hokkaido, making it three Australians in total that have died in Japan this year.

A bushfire on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula has had its warning level again downgraded, but the Country Fire Service says it has burned more than 1,900 hectares and remains uncontrolled.

An entire family has been found dead in their own home — a mother, a father and their two teenage boys, with police describing the event as "highly distressing" and a "devastating tragedy".

Investigators and families are calling for major reforms, with more than 30 safety recommendations issued to prevent a similar tragedy.