Expedition hopes to find aviator Amelia Earhart's plane on remote island

A team of researchers from the US-based Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University are on their way to Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific Ocean to inspect what they believe could be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane. The island, part of the multi-island country of Kiribati, is where Earhart vanished while attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.

The researchers, currently halfway through their journey aboard the Kiribati National Shipping Line vessel Marin Mainiku, departed Kiribati's capital on Wednesday to begin their 830-mile voyage.

Upon arrival, they will navigate through a narrow gap in the atoll's reef, created by the British in 1963 when the island last hosted inhabitants. The researchers aim to find the "Taraia Object," a small aircraft-like structure first spotted on satellite imagery in 2020 and confirmed in aerial photographs dating back to 1938. Richard Pettigrew, head of the ALI and expedition lead, expressed his excitement, stating that discovering Earhart's Electra aircraft would be a life-changing event.

The official explanation for Earhart's disappearance is that her plane ran out of fuel while trying to reach Howland Island, a remote, uninhabited coral island near Nikumaroro. However, no physical evidence has ever been found. Some researchers, including rival explorers, have expressed skepticism about the Taraia Object being Earhart's plane.

One such skeptic, Ric Gillespie, stated that the object looked more like a fallen tree rather than an aircraft. Despite previous attempts, no conclusive evidence of Earhart's plane has been discovered, with one previous expedition in 2024 finding what was later confirmed to be a rock formation.