The fate of lost American aviator Amelia Earhart in the late 1930s may have finally been solved thanks to a team looking for clues.
According to divers searching for answers in the Pacific Ocean, it is possible they have found is the plane belonging to the adventurer who disappeared in 1937, Metro reported Monday.
“After scanning 5,200 miles of seabed near Earhart’s last known position, surveyors Deep Sea Vision believe they may have located her Lockheed 10-E Electra,” the outlet said.
In a social media post on Saturday, Deep Sea Vision shared images of what appears to be a plane:
The team of 16 people spent months searching the area with a drone identified as the Kongsberg Discovery HUGIN 6000. The object they uncovered is located near Howland Island, between Fiji and Hawaii, per the Metro report.
When speaking of Earhart and her attempt at flying around the world with navigator Fred Noonan, Deep Sea Vision CEO Tony Romeo said:
Amelia’s story is probably one of the most endearing true American stories. She broke barriers for women, she was a pioneer in aviation, and she was trying to do things that most people, many people wouldn’t even try today. There’s been a lot of wild, crazy theories about what happened to her. But in the end, I think she was tantalizingly close to the island. She was a terrific pilot and I think we’re gonna prove that.
Romeo said he and his team will return to the area with a media team and try to see numbers written on the plane’s wing, according to the Post and Courier.
“It was a surreal moment,” Romeo said about when his team made the discovery. “And then there was kind of this somber element to it because obviously two people passed away here. And the thought crossed my mind, ‘We’re the first ones in 86 years, 87 years, to see Amelia Earhart’s aircraft.”