A research team has reached Nikumaroro Island to inspect possible wreckage linked to Amelia Earhart’s 1937 disappearance. They will work around giant coconut crabs and extreme weather while searching for the so-called Taraia Object.
01Summary
- 01Researchers from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University arrived at Nikumaroro Island on Monday.
- 02The expedition is expected to last five days and the crew will sleep aboard the ship, the Marin Mainiku, because of coconut crabs.
- 03The team plans to inspect the Taraia Object, first seen in satellite imagery in 2020, and to search the Taraia Peninsula on Wednesday.
- 04Nikumaroro is part of Kiribati, and this is the first authorised visit to the island in seven years and the first to the Taraia Peninsula in more than 15 years.
- 05Earhart vanished in 1937 with navigator Fred Noonan while flying her Electra twin-engine plane towards Howland Island.
02Why it matters
The search could add evidence to one of aviation’s best-known mysteries and may help settle long-running speculation about where Earhart ended up. The outcome also matters because the team is working in difficult conditions that could affect what they find.
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