Researchers who traveled to Nikumaroro in the Pacific said the object they had hoped might be Amelia Earhart’s plane was likely a clump of washed-up trees, ending the expedition without confirmation of the pilot’s fate.
The team had gone to the remote, uninhabited atoll after a metallic-looking object was identified in satellite imagery in 2020. Steve Schultz of Purdue University said the group had not found conclusive evidence, describing the object as trees.
Nikumaroro is about halfway between Australia and Hawaii, according to the Guardian. The researchers had sought to determine whether the object could resolve the mystery of Earhart’s disappearance.