The friend of a law graduate has told of the harrowing moment she screamed and plunged 30ft to her death from a road bridge on the A21 between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge.

Azra Kemal, 24, died in July after desperately seeking help after her car burst into flames in the early hours of the morning.

Azra and pal Omar Allen had been crossing over the A21's central barriers as both sought help after the fire broke out in her car.

But as Azra moved along the road, she had strayed onto a bridge and what looked like a normal central reservation was a small gap between two separate carriageways which could not be seen in the dark.

At an inquest today in Maidstone, coroner Alan Blunsden heard from Mr Allen, who had been in the car with Azra. He told of his desperate attempts to save his friend.

He said the pair had been crossing the traffic lanes to try and summon help after the fire in the early hours on July 16.

Mr Allen told the hearing: "She had crossed over a higher railing as I was crossing the road and that's when I heard her fall.

"Her screams went on for so long, I knew it was far down.

"I came to the barrier and she was screaming for me to come down."

Mr Allen bravely tried to leap from the barrier, to cling to a tree. He said it was dark and he couldn't see his friend.

"I shimmied down it [the tree] as much as I could, but the branches were breaking off and I fell. My ears were ringing, but I could hear her asking me to help her."

He said firefighters arrived, saw him nearby, and told him things would be alright. He was advised to leave the scene. Mr Allen desperately hoped her injuries would be less severe, such as a broken arm.

He added: "I would like her mum to know I did everything I could to help her. I have a child myself so I know how hard it must be to lose a child."

Emergency services were called at around 2.30am and fought to save her life.

Mr Allen said he and Azra were trying to flag down cars to help them, but the severity of the fire meant no drivers wanted to pass and there was also very little traffic.

He said: "We hopped out and the flames got bigger. They were all over the bonnet.

"Azra wanted to get her little Louis Vuitton bag, but there was smoke and fire inside the car.

"I advised her it wasn't a good idea because the car was hissing like it was going to blow up.

"We got the bags we could out and that's when we crossed the road. We were trying to flag down cars, but there were no cars coming our way."

Catherine Taylor, a passenger in another car, summoned help for Azra. She was the first to come across Azra and Mr Allen after the car fire and stopped to help after seeing two friends standing on the opposite side of the road.

She saw the the friends run across four lanes. After getting out to help she too climbed over a barrier to find where they had gone.

She said: "You couldn't have known there was a gap. I didn't realise there were barriers and then a drop, the carriageway had been as one until then. I didn't know it had split.

"I heard a couple of voices and then it went quiet."

Evidence was given by Acting Police Sergeant James Savill who spoke to Azra and Mr Allen at 12.15am, around an hour before the car fire. He saw the car stopped at the side of the A27 in East Sussex without its lights on.

He described Azra, who had been driving, as becoming "relatively confrontational and emotional" and said his colleagues would be on their way.

"She said she had had an argument with somebody which is why she was out, but she didn't say who with," he told the hearing.

"She looked like she had been crying. She went from speaking normally to shouting but I don't think she was shouting at me, just the world."

Watch KMTV's report on the major investigation launched after Azra's death

He said he saw Azra stumble when she got out of the car and she seemed unsteady. He suspected she had been drinking but could not smell alcohol on her breath.

Sgt Savill said he later heard the car start and said Azra had driven off at speed in excess of 100mph.

A pathologist is yet to give evidence but at the inquest opening Azra's cause of death was given as multiple severe injuries.

Her mother, Nevres, 56, previously spoke to a national newspaper and said her daughter had pleaded with paramedics: "Please don’t let me die".

In her tribute, she said: “She was my world. She doted on me and I doted on her.”

Ms Kemal, a social worker from Whetstone, north London, previously said: “She truly was the air that I breathe. There is no life in the home. That is all I live for, for her.

“What I have heard from all her friends is that Azra would give love and try to help. She was no angel but she had that quality.

Her mother also revealed her daughter had called her just minutes before the accident to say she had had a great night with her friends.

She received the heartbreaking news of her daughter's death at 10am the next morning.

"Two police officers came to the door and I knew. They said her name, I said her name, and they told me of her demise."

Azra studied at the London School of Economics and a scholarship award is being created in her memory.

In just two days a GoFundMe page set up by her mother Nevres has secured donations of more than £4,500.

Ms Kemal wrote: "Her proudest moment in her short life was to graduate with a Law Degree from the London School of Economics. Azra was a scholarship student and her passion for justice, fairness and equality was an integral part of her character.

To celebrate Azra's birthday on November 16, a donation was made to provide the Azra Kemal Memorial Scholarship award for a women of BAEM at LSE. The Scholarship is supported by the university.

Azra had also worked with Sky News on a documentary about life on the streets of north London, including interviews about county lines drug dealing and with children exploited as drugs mules.

The inquest has been adjourned to a future date.

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Read more: All the latest news from Tonbridge