Devastated friends of a mum who drowned after on a seafront have asked: "How could this have happened?"

in the horror, witnessed by her 11-year-old daughter on Sunday. The coastal path has been likened to an "ice rink" by locals, some of whom have paid tribute to Ms Cole-Nottage.

One friend said: "Everyone is in disbelief. She was with her 11-year-old daughter. 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. 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."

The mum's grief-stricken partner, Mike Wheeler, described the tragedy as "a freak accident". The 42-year-old man, who also has an seven-year-old daughter and an eight-month-old son with Ms Cole-Nottage, wrote online: "My darling Saff. What can I really say, there are no words to express how much we will miss you. The 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. Me and the kids will love you and never forget you, until we meet again."

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Ms Cole-Nottage moved to Lowestoft from Gillingham, Kent, last year. Sarah Houckham, a friend in Gillingham, told : "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."

"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."

Ms Cole-Nottage worked at Ms Houckham's bar in Gillingham before she left for pastures new. The pals also regularly played darts together.

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.

A Suffolk Police spokesperson had 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."