Branson banking on Google Earth to track pal Fossett

Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson has joined the hunt for his missing millionaire friend Steve Fossett.

London, Sept.6 : Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson has joined the hunt for his missing millionaire friend Steve Fossett.

According to The Sun, Branson plans to get friends at Internet giant Google Earth to use satellite pictures to determine the whereabouts of the sixty-three-year-old adventurer's light plane.

Fossett has not been seen since taking off on a short flight on Monday.

Branson said: "I'm talking with friends at Google about seeing if we can look at satellite images to see which direction he might have been flying and if they see any disturbances anywhere.

"I'm very confident Steve would have got the plane down in one piece. Having said that, obviously we're worried about the fact that there's been no emergency beacon going off. If the worst comes to worst, Steve's lived his life to the full," he added. n Wednesday, rescuers scoured a 600 square-mile area in search of Fossett and his plane, but without much success.

Their painstaking task was made harder by the fact Fossett did not file a flight plan or take his satellite phone.

A dozen military and civil planes armed with hi-tech imaging gear scanned the mountainous terrain using a methodical grid pattern.

Fossett took off from a Nevada ranch to look for dry lakebeds for a planned world speed record bid at 8.45 a.m. on Monday.

His family raised the alarm after he failed to return from the trip - which should have lasted three hours.

ANI