London, October 4 (ANI): American air-adventurer Steve Fossett had died instantly following his hard-impact plane crash, police officials have revealed.

The 63-year-old millionaire, who mysteriously disappeared after taking off from his private airstrip in Nevada last September, is said to have flown straight into a mountain on a cloudy day.

His single-engine plane was smashed into pieces that spread over a 400ft area. Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact.

It was a hard-impact crash, the Sun quoted Jeff Page, a search organiser, as saying.

The officials claimed that a bone fragment at the site should be able to give a DNA match to Mr Fossett, while investigators planned to go back to hunt for more traces.

Mr Fossett was looking for a place to break the land speed record a year ago when he crashed near Mammoth Lakes, California.

Items possibly belonging to the aviator, who was legally declared dead in February this year, were found after a hiker spotted his pilots licence and ID cards.

Widow Peggy Fossett said: I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life.

Mr. Fossett, who became the first person to fly solo non-stop around the world in a plane, was known for his many world records, including 5 non-stop circumnavigations of the Earth. (ANI)