Human bones found on Nikumaroro, a remote Pacific island, in 1940 are likely to be the remains of aviator Amelia Earhart, according to new forensic analysis.
Earhart, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, disappeared in 1937 while trying to fly around the world.
A new study published in Forensic Anthropology by University of Tennessee Anthropology Professor Richard Jantz claims that the bones found on Nikumaroro, part of Kiribati, 1,800 miles south-west of Hawaii, are a “99% match” with the shape and size of Earhart’s skeleton.
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The ABC reports that Jantz “used an inseam length and waist circumference from a pair of Earhart's trousers” to make his assessment, comparing them with measurements of the skeleton found on the island.
“In the case of the Nikumaroro bones, the only documented person to whom they may belong is Amelia Earhart,” Jantz wrote in the study.
A 1941 report “concluded that the bones belonged to a male”, says CNN, and “the bones themselves have since been lost”, preventing DNA or other analysis.
When they were found, the bones were believed to have been male. They have since been lost
The BBC says Earhart was “known to have been near the island when she vanished”.
7 July 2017
Does this photo show Amelia Earhart survived her crash?
A photograph has surfaced online that some believe shows that pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart may have survived her mysterious crash, only to be arrested by the Japanese.
In 1937, Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe, along with her navigator Fred Noonan. For 80 years, the fate of the two has remained a mystery, and both were pronounced dead after an investigation by the US government.
The newly-discovered photo, which was found in America's National Archives, shows a group of people standing on a dock in the Marshall Islands, which were then under Japanese control. It is believed to have been taken by a US spy, the BBC reports.
NPR says a former US treasury agent found the photo, which was undated, in a box marked "declassified".
One member of the group is sat on the ground with her back to the camera, and speculation has arisen that this may be Earhart. A man stood on the far left in the photo is rumoured to be Noonan. "The hairline is the most distinctive characteristic," Ken Gibson, a facial recognition expert who studied the photo, told The Independent. "It's a very sharp receding hairline. The nose is very prominent."
Others are less convinced.
"Let's use our heads for a moment," Ric Gillespie, author of Finding Amelia and executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, told the BBC. "It's undated. They think it's from 1937. Okay. If it's from July 1 1937 then it can't be Amelia, because she hadn't taken off yet. If it's from 1935 or 1938 it can't be her. This photograph has to have been taken within a very narrow window - within a couple of days of when she disappeared.
"If this is a picture of Amelia Earhart in Japanese custody, where are the Japanese? There are no soldiers in this picture. Nobody in uniform."
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