18.10.2026 18:21
The team searching for legendary aviator Amelia Earhart's plane, which disappeared in 1937, on the deserted Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific returned to the island after a three-day suspension due to a severe storm.
According to BBC News, the search for the missing plane of famous American aviator Amelia Earhart on the deserted Pacific island of Nikumaroro has resumed after a three-day pause due to a severe storm.
The team traveling to the island, which belongs to Kiribati, hopes to solve Earhart's mysterious disappearance in 1937 by examining the object seen in aerial photographs in the atoll's lagoon and named the "Taraia Object." The expedition team, run by Purdue University and the U.S.-based Archaeological Heritage Institute (ALI), reached the area last week and began an underwater scan.
However, rough seas and strong winds caused by strong El Niño conditions in the Pacific forced the team to remain on the research vessel for three days. When the weather cleared on Sunday, the team was able to go ashore again. Technology expert Sirisha Bandla said, "We can finally get off the ship and go ashore on Nikumaroro. The team is really excited."
In 1937, during her attempt to travel around the world in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra, Earhart flew from California across South America, Africa, and Asia and reached Lae in Papua New Guinea on July 2. While heading to Howland Island with her navigator Fred Noonan to refuel, she disappeared without a trace. According to one theory, Earhart accidentally headed toward Nikumaroro, landed the plane there, and died on the island as a castaway.
According to Purdue University, the Taraia Object is visible even in photographs from 1938 and resembles the wreckage of a small plane in shallow water. However, some explorers argue that it could be a tree that fell into the lagoon. The expedition team extended its fieldwork because of the storm break and has not yet announced whether it has reached any promising finding.
Previous attempts to find Earhart's plane had also been inconclusive. In 2024, it was claimed that sonar had found a plane at a depth of about 4,877 meters near Howland Island, but the object turned out to be a rock formation. A search off Nikumaroro in 2019 also yielded no result.
ALI Director Rick Pettigrew said they knew there was great interest in the expedition worldwide and that they would share the results "as soon as possible."
Source: BBC