Object suspected to be Amelia Earhart's missing plane likely washed-up trees: US university

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - An object in a remote Pacific lagoon once suspected to be Amelia Earhart's missing aircraft was likely a collection of washed-up trees, Purdue University said Monday.

A 17-member expedition examined the so-called Taraia Object near the Taraia Peninsula on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll belonging to Kiribati.

The object was first spotted in satellite imagery in 2020 and later identified in photographs dating to 1938, according to the university.

Its shape and reflective appearance prompted researchers to investigate whether it could be part of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft.

However, evidence collected at the site suggested the object was "likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula's sandspit," Purdue said.

Much of the debris had fragmented and washed away before the expedition arrived, leaving only a Y-shaped section considerably smaller than the object visible in earlier images.

Researchers said the object's shiny appearance, previously considered a possible indication of metal, resulted from a carbonate coating formed from coral sand.

"We accomplished our goal to determine what the Taraia Object was," said Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute.

The institute conducted the expedition in cooperation with Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation.

The team also recovered several other artifacts, including a steel tube measuring about 30 inches (76 centimeters) from the lagoon.

Researchers said the discoveries would undergo further examination, although none had been linked to Earhart's aircraft.

The expedition reached Nikumaroro after a five-day sea journey from Tarawa.

Bad weather extended the expedition, with researchers spending seven days near the atoll and four days conducting work onshore.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared on July 2, 1937, after departing Lae, Papua New Guinea, for Howland Island during her attempt to fly around the world.

Howland Island lies about 400 miles (644 kilometers) northwest of Nikumaroro.

A large US air-and-sea search failed to locate the aircraft or its occupants.

One theory suggests Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro's reef and later died as castaways.

Although the expedition found no evidence linking the Taraia Object to the missing aircraft, researchers said the wider search would continue.

Purdue University has a longstanding connection to Earhart, who worked there as a women's career counselor and aviation adviser.

Her Lockheed Electra, which she called her "Flying Laboratory," was purchased with funding from the Purdue Research Foundation.