The death of a young mother who drowned after slipping while dog walking with her young daughter on the seafront has left horrified friends asking: ‘How could this have happened?’
Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, had headed out with eldest daughter Jessica, 11, to walk the family dog on Sunday when tragedy struck as she fell onto giant boulders at the base of the sea wall in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
It is believed Saffron had slipped while walking on the slippery mossy rocks in conditions likened to ‘an ice rink’ and died after she became trapped between the rocks and reportedly drowned.
A huge rescue operation was mounted after the incident happened along the seawall, including the landing of a helicopter.
Her devastated partner has described what happened to Saffron as a ‘freak horrific’ accident, but friends have questioned how teams of police and specially trained coast guard crews could not rescue her.
One friend said: ‘Everyone is in disbelief. She was with her 11-year-old daughter Jess. They were walking along. Jess was holding the dog and Saff fell.
‘Apparently the temperature dropped and the surface became like ice. She slipped.
‘We’ve heard it suggested that she got wedged into the rocks somehow but it’s not clear exactly what happened next.
Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, is understood to have lost her footing while walking on a concrete ledge alongside huge boulders at the base of the sea wall in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on Sunday night
Locals said there are no entry signs where the young mother was allegedly walking was off-limits to pedestrians (pictured: Off-limit signs)
Grieving partner pays tribute to mother-of-three who drowned when she fell and got trapped in rocks
‘There have been conflicting reports about what happened. We have heard some reports that she was conscious but others saying the girl was calling to her, but she wasn’t responding.
‘It’s just not clear and we hope the authorities can provide some answers. Whatever it was, it must have been absolutely horrific for the young girl. There would have been no one around at that hour in the dark.
‘It seems there are questions that need to be answered. There will have to be a coroner’s report but none of it makes any sense.’
Friends told how Saffron had moved to the seaside town last year to start a new life with Jessica, youngest daughter Jasmine, seven, and her partner Mike Wheeler, 42. The couple went on to have a son Hudson who is just eight months old.
Mr Wheeler posted a heartfelt tribute online, echoing a handwritten note he left at the scene of the tragedy.
He wrote: ‘My darling Saff. What can I really say, there are no words to express how much we will miss you.
‘The world is so cruel and to take you in this freak horrific way will not sit well with me for the rest of my life.
‘You will be forever missed by so many and I’m really not sure I’ll ever be the same without you.
Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, drowned after slipping and being trapped between rocks on a Suffolk beach on Sunday
Heartbreaking tributes left for young mother on the seafront. Saffron had only given months to a baby boy months before the incident
‘Me and the kids will love you and never forget you, until we meet again.
One of their daughters had added on the card: ‘My beautiful mummy, I love you the world.’
Back in Gillingham, close friend Sarah Houckham, 52, said: ‘I can’t believe she’s gone.
‘To think she was just 32. She had the kids and the baby – Hudson is just eight months old.
‘They had gone up there to start a new life and had found a bit of happiness.
‘I spoke to Michael’s family. They said she had just gone to take the dog for a walk – and now she’s gone.’
Saffron used to work at the local Poundland shop and also helped out behind the bar at the Canterbury Tales pub in Gillingham, Kent, where Sarah was the licensee for 14 years.
They played in the same darts team together and Saffron also worked for Sarah when she took over running the nearby Rock Avenue Club.
A huge rescue effort was mounted to try and save her, but it is believed she had become trapped between the rocks and reportedly drowned
A man, who did not wish to be named likened the boulders which are also mossy to an ‘ice rink’ (pictured)
Paying tribute to Saffron, Sarah said: ‘She was an absolutely fantastic person.’Saff would light any room up and was full of life
‘She was such a good friend – we go back a lot of years. We had each other’s backs.
‘She was from this area but went to Suffolk to start a new life just over a year ago.
‘She used to work for me at the pub and the club. She was such a great laugh – the customers loved her.
‘She worked for me and we played darts together as a doubles pairing. She was an exceptional darts player. We used to play together in the ladies and the men’s team and she won a lot of trophies.
‘Saff moved up there first with the kids. Because of his job, Michael couldn’t go up there straight away so he had to stay here a little bit.
‘He moved up there as soon as he possibly could, with swapping jobs.
‘Things were just coming together for them. Saff had her mum and dad up there.’
Floral tributes on on Lowestoft seafront near where Saffron Cole-Nottage died
Another friend said: ‘Everyone is in a state of shock. Nobody can understand how it could have happened.
‘The family moved away a year ago and they were just beginning to settle down. They went to live in Lowestoft to start afresh. They wanted to move away from the area and start again. They only had the baby eight months ago.
‘Although they moved away they would come back to visit everyone. They were due to come this weekend to play darts. They both play. Mike works in a bookies.’
Locals told MailOnline that the area where Saffron was apparently walking is off-limits to pedestrians and there are no entry signs at either end of the beach warning people not to walk there.
As well as the slippery granite rocks, the concrete surface is also mossy and on Sunday night could have also been icy.
‘It’s like an ice rink down there,’ one local man told MailOnline while looking down at the scene of the tragedy.
‘A long time ago, the ledge did used to be a path, but the tide comes in much further these days than it used to and with the boulders which have been placed there against coastal erosion, it’s not somewhere you would feel safe.’
The 65-year-old, who asked not to be named, added: ‘There are signs at either end, and an actual barrier on the southern approach, but it’s possible the young lady didn’t see them if she came from the north.
The seafront rocks in Lowesoft, where emergency crews rushed to but could not save the mother
‘It’s an awful thing to happen, I feel so sorry for her young children.’
Other flowers and heartbreaking tributes were left for the ‘beautiful’ mother near the scene – as grieving loved ones shared how she would be ‘forever missed’.
Another emotional message said: ‘Your lights shined bright down here and you’ll shine bright up there too – forever 32.’
Online tributes also flooded in on social media, including one which said ‘rest in paradise Saff’.
Another said: ‘My beautiful bestie forever 32 the light to my everything I will miss u forever and always – the pain hurts so much, love you Saffron Cole-Nottage.’
A massive emergency response focused on The Esplanade area of Lowestoft at about 8pm on Sunday following initial reports that a person had fallen into the sea, as temperatures plunged below freezing.
Police, HM Coastguard rescue officers from Lowestoft, the East of England Ambulance Service and the East Anglian Air Ambulance all responded as the tragedy unfolded.
MailOnline have approached Suffolk Police and HM Coastguard for a comment.
In a previous statement, Suffolk Police said: ‘Police and other emergency services were in attendance in Lowestoft on Sunday at an incident in which a woman died after a fall.
‘Suffolk Constabulary was called at around 8.03pm, by the ambulance service, to an incident on the coast off The Esplanade in the town.
‘A number of emergency services attended including East of England of Air Ambulance.
‘A woman, aged in her 30s, sadly died at the scene.
‘The death is currently being treated at unexplained, but there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances at this time. A file will now be completed for the Coroner.’
