Ambulance crew and coastguard, who attended the scene where a mother had got her head stuck in rocks on a beach, stood and waited for the fire service to arrive due to a lack of PPE, an inquest has heard. Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, was with her daughter walking their dog at the seafront in the town when she fell on February 2 last year.

Richard Lark, a watch manager at Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, told the inquest: "I asked the ambulance service if they had been down to her, and they said 'No' because of PPE. I asked who had been down to assess her, and they said they did not know." Two members of the Coastguard were also sent to the scene in overalls with no PPE, the firefighter said, adding that no cordon was in place, and emergency services had not been with Ms Cole-Nottage, and no attempt had been made to rescue her.

"I asked the Coastguard what was happening and they stated they did not know,' he told the inquest. "I looked over the wall and saw two non-uniformed police officers."

Ms Cole-Nottage had been conscious and talking for at least 10 minutes before Mr Lark arrived with his colleague.

He added that after feeling her leg, which was still warm, he believed that "there was a high chance she could be in a gap in the rocks allowing her to breathe," he told the inquest.

An initial 999 call was made at 7.52pm, but fire crews did not arrive until 8.22pm after initial confusion about the seriousness of the incident.

Saffron was freed from the rocks at 8.32pm, almost an hour after she first became trapped, but was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

Controller, Daniel Joy, also did not realise the tide was rising and even urged passers-by to stop trying to free Saffron, the court heard.

Ian Jones, who had been walking along the seafront, said he was "shocked to see two legs sticking out of the water and a young girl was standing nearby just screaming".

He said he and another man tried to help pull Ms Cole-Nottage free, an inquest in Ipswich was told on Tuesday.

"It felt like around 10 minutes we were pulling the lady's legs, but we just couldn't pull her with enough force to free her," he said, in a statement summarised by counsel to the inquest, Bridget Dolan KC.

Alex Singleton-Dent said he was walking along the seafront at around 8pm when he heard a girl screaming for help.

"I looked over the railings when I saw a girl shouting for help for her mum," he said.

He said he ran to help, and when he shone his phone light on the rocks, he "could see two legs sticking out from them".

"She asked me to help and to pull her out," said Mr Singleton-Dent.

He said that he worked with another man - Mr Jones - to try to get her free, "but we just couldn't".

"It felt like we were trying for ages and the emergency services didn't arrive for hours, but my adrenaline was going," said Mr Singleton Dent, in a statement summarised by Ms Dolan.

"I do know the female became unresponsive and the tide was coming in," he said.

Ms Cole-Nottage's partner, Mike Wheeler, said that she was familiar with walking along the "concrete apron beyond the promenade", Ms Dolan said.

Mr Wheeler said she would walk her dog there, and it was about five minutes from her home.

Ms Cole-Nottage's stepmother, Patricia Cole, said in a statement summarised by Ms Dolan that when Ms Cole-Nottage wanted to take the dog for a walk, "Mike had objected because of her being drunk".

Pathologist Raj Logasundarum said that a level of 271 milligrams of alcohol per 100ml of blood was recorded for Ms Cole-Nottage.

The legal limit for driving in England is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The pathologist said this "would have significantly impaired her cognitive abilities".

He recorded Ms Cole-Nottage's medical cause of death as drowning.

The inquest, due to last two weeks, continues.