AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a body was found in a Hampshire river.

A coach driver told the Daily Echo of how he spotted a body floating in the water at Curbridge Creek, after he took a group of students on a school trip to the beauty spot yesterday.

Tony Steel, 34, had driven a group of students from a Southampton-based junior school to the area near the Horse and Jockey pub, in Botley Road and was walking near the river when he saw the body floating in the water.

He said: “I went down to the river to take a picture of the area.

“I saw there was something dark floating but I didn’t imagine it was a body.

“I walked closer to the bank and realised it was a body face down.

“I called the landlord over quickly and told him to take the children away, as they were having their lunch on the grass nearby but couldn’t see the body.

“I was shocked.

“I feel sad thinking that somebody has lost someone they care about.”

Mr Steel, who is from Bournemouth, said he made sure the children were taken to the pub and waited for the emergency service to arrive.

He added: “I didn’t really have time to feel anything there and then.

“I just had to make sure the children couldn’t see anything and the emergency services were called.”

A Hampshire Police spokesperson confirmed that officers were called to the scene at 11.57pm.

It is understood that the person found is a middle aged man but police had not confirmed any details about the identity of the body when the Daily Echo went to press.

Officers and members of the Hampshire Constabulary Marine Unit spent several hours investigating at the scene and a section of the bank and part of pub car park were taped off.

Alex Turner, 22, from Botley, is the landlord of the Horse and Jockey and was inside the pub when he was told that a body had been found in the water.

He said: “My dad was out at that time and the driver told him and we called police.

“I was shaking when my dad said there was as body there.

“I live here, it’s like it happened on my doorstep.

“I’ve lived here for a year and a half and nothing like this has happened before.

“This is right at the end of the river Hamble, so the body could have come from anywhere.”

Officers left the scene shortly before 3pm.