Expedition finds no conclusive evidence of Amelia Earhart's plane in South Pacific

An expedition led by researchers from Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute sought to find wreckage of Amelia Earhart's missing Lockheed Electra 10-E near Nikumaroro, a remote coral atoll in the South Pacific, according to NBC News.

The team investigated an anomaly first seen in satellite images in 2020, which some experts had hypothesized could be the plane's wreckage. However, the researchers concluded there was no conclusive evidence to confirm this hypothesis.

The anomaly was determined to be most likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula's sandspit, with a reflective surface caused by a carbonate coating rather than metal, as reported by CBS News.

Severe weather and limited supplies restricted the expedition's time on site, and by the time the team arrived much of the debris had fragmented and washed away, leaving only a single Y-shaped segment.

The search area is extremely remote, requiring five days at sea to reach, and the object had been visible in aerial photos dating back to 1938 but was only identified as an anomaly in 2020.

The researchers emphasized that despite the findings, the expedition was driven by the spirit of courage and curiosity associated with Earhart's legacy.