Fossett items found near Mammoth Lakes

Searchers have renewed their hunt for the remains of missing millionaire Steve Fossett, after a hiker found the aviator's identification papers in Madera County near Mammoth Lakes.

The documents are the first pieces of physical evidence linked to the disappearance of the adventurer, who is believed to have died in a plane crash after taking off on a pleasure flight from a private airport south of Reno on Sept. 3, 2007.

They were found in a mountainous region of the Inyo National Forest 200 miles southeast of the rugged Nevada terrain that was the focus of previous searches.

Just before dark Wednesday, one aerial spotter said he saw what appeared to be wreckage of an airplane.

"Our teams are going in to that area, and we hope to know whether it is really plane wreckage, and if it is Fossett's or someone else's, by morning," Madera County sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart said late Wednesday night.

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