INVESTIGATIONS were continuing today into a marine accident which left a gaping hole in the historic Hythe Pier - but was just minutes from causing disaster.

Marchwood based merchant dredger the Donald Redford smashed into the pier in Southampton Water shortly after 6pm on Saturday as hundreds of Saints football fans returned to the Waterside from the match with Manchester City at St Mary's.

One of the Hythe-Southampton ferries had just docked at the pier and the electric train which takes passengers along the 19th-century structure had travelled down the pier just minutes before the accident.

A full search and rescue operation was mounted by the Coastguard after initial reports suggested there were foot passengers on the pier at the time of the collision.

A helicopter from Lee-on-the-Solent, using an infra-red camera, Hamble's inshore rescue craft, the Calshot lifeboat and Southampton Coastguard Rescue Team were all scrambled and searched until 9.26pm.

A coastguard spokesman said: "The timing of it was critical. There were a lot of football supporters who had got off the ferry. Five minutes earlier and it could have had the train which would have been an absolute disaster.

"The ferry hadn't long docked at the pier and although the train was at the other end we were not initially sure as to whether there were any people walking up the pier or anglers on it."

A further search of the shoreline area between the pier and Hythe's Shore Road was also mounted by Hampshire police officers yesterday morning but police confirmed nothing had been found and there were no reports of casualties or missing persons.

The dredger smashed into the pier from the Hythe Marina side of Southampton Water leaving a huge stretch of twisted metal just over halfway along the structure.

Police said the cause of the accident was unknown but the 37-year-old master of the dredger was detained after the incident and released on police bail after joint inquiries conducted by the Southampton Harbourmaster's unit and the Coastguard.

The Donald Redford had to be re-floated on a high tide and was subsequently detained by the Marine Accident Board as part of the investigation.

Yesterday the Harbourmaster's office refused to comment on the incident.

Firefighters from Hythe, Hardley and Eastleigh plus a special equipment unit from St Mary's, Southampton, were sent to the scene along with police and ambulance crews after first reports said that there were people in the water.