A tragic incident in the U.K. saw a mother drown in front of her own daughter after getting trapped upside-down in the sea rock defenses at the beach. The rising tide resulted in Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, being unable to breath and, unfortunately for her, emergency services had incorrectly recorded that she was not near water.
The Coroner’s Court in Suffolk, England, heard how Saffron was in imminent danger, but a misunderstanding with the 999 operator led to a “muddled response” and a delayed rescue as per the Daily Mail.
On February 2nd of last year, Saffron, who was a mother-of-six, had slipped and fallen in-between a gap between the rocks while walking her dog with her daughter. Her legs could be seen sticking up in the air and three people did their best to pull her out of the gap while one of them dialled 999.
Saffron had fallen in a way that was almost impossible to get out of. Her arms were stuck and her head was closest to the water. The tide that was initially described as not being close to her when she fell in the water was rising.
The inquest into Saffron’s death found a delayed response
While the people at the scene did their best to describe what had happened the inquest showed there was a significant delay in rescue being sent out. The 999 call was placed at 7:52 PM with the transcript showing that the caller described how a woman “had fallen off the pier and was trapped in between rocks and was unable to get out.”
It took until 7:56 PM to get an accurate location of the incident with controller Daniel Joy categorizing the call as being an “entrapment.” While he did record it as the most serious category, he didn’t record that Saffroin needed specialist rescue, instead selecting a different option.
An ambulance was dispatched at 7:57 PM from a location roughly ten miles away. The coast guard was dispatched one minute later. In the chaos and confusion the 999 controller even advised those on the scene not to try pulling Saffron out, believing she wasn’t in immediate danger. At one point the phone was also handed to Saffron’s daughter who explained that she had told her mother “to stick to the wall because I knew she was going to fall” because she was allegedly drunk.
Time was of the essence
The incident was elevated to potential drowning at 7:59 PM after the caller explained that Saffron’s head was going under the water. A rapid response vehicle was sent as it was determined it would get there quicker. Almost nine minutes into the call the caller claimed that Saffron had potentially passed out and 30 seconds later claimed she was unresponsive.
Almost 20 minutes after the 999 call was made the ambulance arrived. Firefighters arrived a further 10 minutes later and were able to get her out of the rocks at 8:32 PM. By that point the mother had already passed away.
The inquest heard that the system used by controllers was “clunky,” with call handler Christopher Strutt admitting that the controller could have contacted the fire services sooner. When asked why the fire service had not been called when it was clear Saffron Cole-Nottage was trapped in water, Strutt responded “I do not know.”
