| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
LOS ANGELES: Items possibly belonging to missing aviator Steve Fossett have been found by hikers in a remote area of California more than one year after his mysterious disappearance, police said on Wednesday.
Mammoth Lakes Police Department chief Randy Schienle, said that items including an identity card bearing Fossett's name had been handed to authorities after being discovered on Tuesday.
"They found some miscellaneous ID and actually some cash in the area, and the ID has the name of Steve Fossett on it," Schienle told CNN.
"We're not certain that it belongs to Steve Fossett but it certainly has his name on the ID which are some miscellaneous pilots and/or aircraft licences."
The identity cards did not have a photograph of Fossett on them and no plane wreckage was found near the items, Schienle said.
"We found no wreckage. We have found a sweatshirt in the area as well. And it's certainly been out in the area for some time as it's quite faded," Schienle told the network.
Police were to carry out land and air searches of the area where the items were found, Schienle said, declining to speculate on whether searchers expected to discover wreckage of Fossett's plane.
"All I know is we have this ID. It seems to have been outside there for a while, because the ID itself is well weathered as well," he said. "I don't know if we're anywhere near a potential wreckage or not."
Fossett has not been seen since he took off from a private airfield on what was supposed to be a brief solo flight on September 3, 2007.
No trace of the 63-year-old, who was flying a single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon, was ever found despite a massive search that saw dozens of aircraft take to the skies to help scour the region where he disappeared.
A multi-millionaire who made his fortune dealing stocks in Chicago, Fossett set dozens of world records in sailboats, gliders and hot-air balloons.
He famously made the first solo non-stop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. In 2002, he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.
In February, an Illinois judge declared Fossett legally dead at the request of his widow, who issued a recent statement that there were "no further plans for additional searching."
Fossett's iconic status and the unusual circumstances around his demise have brought comparisons to the enduring question of what happened to aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.
The fact that no trace of Fossett or his plane was found after his disappearance have given rise to numerous conspiracy theories, with British newspapers in July speculating he could have faked his death.
However Fossett's close friend and fellow adventurer Sir Richard Branson has rubbished the speculation. "If it were true, I'd be the happiest man ever," Branson told media earlier this year. - AFP/de
|
