Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Rescuers scale back search for Fossett

Rescuers called off their active air search for Steve Fossett on Wednesday, but insisted they had not given up hope and would keep crews on standby to fly to sites where the U.S. adventurer's airplane may have crashed.

Chuck Allen of the Nevada Department of Public Safety told Reuters that authorities continue to consider the hunt for Fossett a "search and rescue" mission, and that they are hopeful he is alive, but that the hunt would be scaled back.

In the most extensive search ever mounted in the western U.S. state of Nevada, air crews have found no sign of Fossett, the first person to pilot a balloon solo around the world in 2002.

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