AN inquest into the death of Ramsbottom firefighter Paul Metcalf, who drowned in a Bury lodge last year, starts today.

Only a day short of the first anniversary of the tragedy, Coroner Barrie Williams will begin the task of establishing how a rescue operation to recover the body of student Reyaz Ali from Simon's Lodge at Holcombe went horribly wrong.

Sub-officer Metcalf was with three crews of colleagues searching for the Darul Uloom Islamic College student, who had failed to surface after plunging into the lodge in Redisher Woods.