A woman jumped into the sea off Cromer pier this morning and had to be rescued by the town's inshore lifeboat.A joint effort between police, coastguards, paramedics and the lifeboat crew started shortly before 6am.

A woman jumped into the sea off Cromer Pier this morning and had to be rescued by the town's inshore lifeboat.

A joint effort between police, coastguards, paramedics and the lifeboat crew started shortly before 6am.

The coastguard said the incident had been sparked by a domestic incident.

Police on the scene reported the woman, thought to be from Sheringham and aged in her 30s, to be in the water clinging to the end of the pier.

Yarmouth Coastguard called out the Cromer coastguard rescue team and alerted the lifeboat.

The woman was illuminated with torches until the lifeboat arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

She was brought ashore for treatment by ambulance staff and transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. She was thought to be suffering from shock and hypothermia.

Yarmouth Coastguard watch officer Adam Hutchinson said. “We do not know how long she could have hung onto the pier piles, considering the sea temperature and a strong northerly tide.

“There is no doubt she owes her life to speed of response from the rescue services, especially the inshore lifeboat.”

Cromer's lifeboat operations manager Richard Leeds said the sea conditions were flat calm and the rescue was relatively straight forward from an operational point of view.