Possible wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane likely to be trees, say researchers

Earhart’s plane vanished without a trace in 1937 on the third-to-last leg of her attempt to fly around the world.

She had already successfully flown from California across South America, Africa and Asia in her twin-engine Lockheed Electra when she arrived in Lae, Papua New Guinea.

Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan had planned to then travel towards Hawaii before returning to California.

But their plane vanished while trying to reach Howland Island, a remote uninhabited coral island about 400 miles (644km) from Nikumaroro, to refuel.

One theory is Earhart unintentionally navigated to Nikumaroro, where she ditched her plane and died a castaway.

The research team had travelled for five days by sea to reach Nikumaroro and was forced to spend several days on their ship following rough seas and strong winds, delaying their search on the island.

They spent four days onshore investigating the site.