Fossett search ends

Investigators have finished their search at the scene of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett’s plane crash in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains ahead of a storm that threatened to bury any remaining evidence under 2ft of snow.

They said they discovered three more bone fragments which will be DNA tested to determine whether they are human and a match for Mr Fossett, 63.

Mr Fossett vanished on September 3 last year during what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight from a Nevada ranch owned by his friend Barron Hilton.

This week a hiker found his identification cards and pilot’s licence in a remote area near Mammoth Lake, about 65 miles south west of Mr Hilton’s ranch.