17 Oct 2013

Another search for Earhart plane planned for next year

7:14 pm on 17 October 2013

Another search aiming to solve the mysterious disappearance in the Pacific of famed aviator Amelia Earhart is being planned for next year.

Ms Earhart attempted to circumnavigate the globe along the equator in 1937, but disappeared in July of that year.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, Tighar, has been involved in the search for Ms Earhart's plane for the last 24 years.

It is now preparing for a 30-day expedition in August 2014 that it says could cost up to three-million US dollars.

Analysts say an old photograph shows part of Ms Earhart's doomed Lockheed Electra, and the search, involving two manned submersibles, is set to investigate around Kiribati's Nikumaroro island.

Tighar say Ms Earhart and her navigater, Fred Noonan, may have safely landed the plane on a nearby reef and set up camp on the island.