Researchers who examined a possible wreckage site linked to Amelia Earhart on a remote Pacific island now believe it is most likely a cluster of washed-up trees. The team, which was working on a study led by Purdue University, travelled to a lagoon on the Taraia Peninsula of Nikumaroro in Kiribati to check whether an object first seen on satellite images in 2020 could explain the aviator’s disappearance.
Purdue said the so-called Taraia Object was probably a group of large trees left along the peninsula’s sandspit. When the team reached the site, much of the debris had broken apart and drifted away. Only a single Y-shaped section remained, the university said.
Images dating back to 1938 sparked the search
Purdue said the object appeared in photographs taken as far back as 1938. Those images led some researchers to suspect it might be the remains of a small aircraft lying in shallow water.
Speaking near the site, project director Rick Pettigrew said the case had now run for 90 years. He said the island had kept its secrets and he expected that someone would eventually find conclusive evidence there.
Earhart’s final flight over the Pacific
Earhart vanished in 1937 while flying her twin-engine Lockheed Electra, on the third-to-last leg of her attempt to circle the globe. She had already flown from California across South America, Africa and Asia before reaching Lae, in Papua New Guinea.
She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, planned to fly towards Hawaii and then return to California. Their plane disappeared while they were trying to reach Howland Island, a remote uninhabited coral island about 400 miles (644km) from Nikumaroro, where they hoped to refuel.
One theory holds that Earhart unintentionally flew to Nikumaroro, where she landed her plane in the water and died as a castaway.
Rough seas delayed the expedition
The research team spent five days travelling by sea to reach Nikumaroro. Rough seas and strong winds then kept them on their ship for several days, which delayed the search on the island.
Once ashore, the team spent four days investigating the site.
