Expedition says suspected Earhart plane debris at Nikumaroro was driftwood
A Purdue University-backed expedition said the object it investigated at Nikumaroro was likely a collection of trees, not debris from Amelia Earhart's aircraft.
Researchers traveled to the remote Kiribati atoll after satellite imagery and aerial video raised the possibility that an object in shallow water could be part of Earhart's plane. Purdue University said the visual anomaly was likely large trees deposited along a sandspit.
The expedition conducted four days of research, including metal detecting. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 during their attempted round-the-world flight.