Since July 2, 1937, there has been no trace of Amelia Earhart. The American pilot, who also made a name for herself as a women’s rights activist, set out to circle the equator shortly before her 40th birthday. But the plan failed. Earhart probably crashed her plane. Their fate was never finally determined.
Eleven million dollars invested in search
But now there are new clues about the aviation pioneer’s final hours. The Wall Street Journal reports that a 16-person team from Deep Sea Vision may have found what they were looking for while searching for wreckage from Earhart’s plane.
A feverish search was carried out for the wreckage using sonar devices. Images posted on social media show a plane just off Kiribati, a port near Howland Island. Tony Romeo, pilot, real estate investor and member of Deep Sea Vision, suspects this is the Earthart wreck. “There are no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not from this period or with the design and history that you see in the photo,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
Earhart, who was traveling with her partner and navigator Fred Noonan, likely planned to refuel on Howland Island after taking off from Papua New Guinea. For Romeo, who has already invested eleven million dollars in searching for the wreck, it is clear that he has finally found it.
“This is perhaps the most exciting thing I will do in my life,” says Romeo, adding: “I feel like a ten-year-old on a treasure hunt.” The deep-sea experts, who are waiting for some details, are less euphoric. Romeo will deliver them.