A kayakist in New Zealand struggles to save his drowning friend. French snowboarders race against time to find the friend who has been buried by an avalanche.

A novice caver is trapped in a flooded passage. A helicopter crew strives to rescue an injured hiker from an inaccessible crevice. Australian fishermen are stranded miles from shore in shark-infested waters.

A freak accident severs a cyclist's artery miles from medical help. A kayaker fights to rescue his friend from white water rapids and a skier gets buried alive.

Tourists struggle to survive after a ferry capsizes and an injured caver is trapped where only dynamite can save him.

Dramatic real-life footage, captured by the rescuers themselves, of a team sent to recover bodies from a sunken wreck finds one man still alive.

A rescue team fights through a storm to reach a fisherman whose hand has been ripped through a winch and a crevasse opens up under a group of climbers.