CAPE TOWN, June 30: US millionaire Steve Fossett was heading out over the Indian Ocean on Sunday on the last leg of his attempt to fly a balloon around the world solo.

At 1300 GMT, Fossett was making for Australia after crossing the eastern coast of South Africa, near the resort town of Margate, and descending to 3,300 metres to avoid thunderstorms, according to his website.

“He has made the turn eastwards,” his website mission log said. “As Fossett and his balloon head out over the Indian Ocean, the mission is now 76 percent complete.”

Fossett has covered 23,440 kms of his trip.

“These will be tough miles to fly, but Fossett will get a considerable boost from winds aloft that are expected to crest tomorrow at 125 knots,” the mission log said.

This is the 58-year-old former Chicago stockbroker’s sixth attempt at a round-the-world trip, one of the last remaining records of manned flight. His last bid ended less than a year ago after 12 days of flight.

Fossett has now been aloft for 12 days since his balloon “Spirit of Freedom” lifted off from the Australian outback.

Fossett tried for years to become the first balloonist to circle the globe nonstop, but that honour went in March 1999 to Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard and English co-pilot Brian Jones.

Fossett then set his sights on being the first to make such a trip solo.

Fossett’s sixth attempt to balloon around the world is going so well that uppermost in the American adventurer’s mind are the monotony of ready-to-eat meals and the boredom of solo flight.

Another benefit of flying low, where the air is warming, was the opportunity to melt the thin sheets of ice that had formed over the football-field size balloon during its stay in the South Atlantic.—Reuters/dpa