DHL to move equipment for new search for Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra

Amelia Earhart disappeared nearly nine decades ago while trying to become the first woman to fly around the world. A new scientific mission is now bound for the South Pacific to examine one of aviation's lasting mysteries, and DHL is moving specialised equipment to one of the most remote regions on the planet as the expedition's official logistics partner.

Earhart vanished on 2 July 1937 while flying from Lae, in what is now Papua New Guinea, toward Howland Island. Her aircraft has never been definitively located. Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute are leading the mission jointly. It will travel to Nikumaroro, a small uninhabited atoll in the Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, roughly midway between Australia and Hawaii.

Researchers intend to study what they call the "Taraia Object", a visual anomaly detected in the island's lagoon that they believe could be the wreckage of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E.

DHL's operation covers more than 1,650 pounds (about 748 kilograms) of supplies and specialised technology in three shipments, together 33 boxes, bags and containers holding more than 100 individual items. The consignments originated in Eugene, Oregon, and Pensacola, Florida, and are bound for Bonriki International Airport in Tarawa, Kiribati. The equipment includes underwater drones, side-scan sonar systems, magnetometers and remote-sensing technology, navigation and GPS systems, and diving gear.