Photo credit: Visit Atchison

 

 

(KAIR)--A new expedition hoping to solve the nearly 90-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of Amelia Earhart has come up empty-handed.

According to a report from Reuters, researchers announced Monday that an object believed to be possible wreckage from Earhart's missing airplane was actually a collection of trees and other debris.

The expedition, supported by Purdue University and private donors, traveled to the remote South Pacific island of Nikumaroro to investigate an unusual object spotted in satellite imagery.

Researchers had hoped the discovery would support a theory that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, landed on the island and survived for a time before dying there.

Jacque Pregont, Coordinator of the long-running festival 

Earhart disappeared in July of 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. The U.S. government's longstanding position is that her plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Although the latest search failed to locate the aircraft, researchers say they remain committed to investigating the mystery, with several newly recovered objects still awaiting further examination.