Divers recover glass they believe could be part of its landing lights from a wrecked craft 100ft underwater near a Papua New Guinea island

• Claims plane wreck found 100ft below the surface could be Earhart's plane
• Piece of glass that 'shares some consistencies' with landing lights from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E have been recovered from the site
•  Buka Island wreck site was directly on Amelia and Fred's flight path
•  Bill Snavely, who has spent 13 years studying the site, is raising funds to make a film and fund more expeditions to the area

More than 80 years after the famed pilot disappeared with her navigator somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, divers claim they may have found part of Emilia Earhart's plane submerged off an island in Papua New Guinea. 

Divers have been studying wreckage off the coast of Buka Island 100ft below the ocean surface.

One a recent dive, a piece of glass that 'shares some consistencies' with landing lights from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E was recovered.

Buka Island, an island of Papua New Guinea in the Solomon Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean, where a new theory says Amelia Earhart's plane may have crashed

A piece of glass (pictured) that 'shares some consistencies' with landing lights from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E was recovered on a recent dive in the area

'The Buka Island wreck site was directly on Amelia and Fred's flight path, and it is an area never searched by anybody,' said Bill Snavely of Project Blue Angel, which undertook the dive. 

He has been studying the site for 13 years, and the 2018 expedition that found the glass gathered measurements and other data to assist in evaluating the crash site. 

Snavely believes Amelia and Fred flew for approximately 12 hours and turned around due to being low on fuel.

'What we found so far is consistent with the plane she flew,' he claims.

'Amelia's Electra had specific modifications done to it for her specific journey, and the fact some of those unique modifications appear to be verified in the wreckage that's been found, we really do believe its very likely this is the real thing' said Jill Meyers, Blue Angel's public relations manager.

Divers examining part of the wreck some believe could be Amelia Earhart's plane

'We want to stress that this apparent aircraft debris field may not end up being that of Amelia Earhart's Electra,' the researchers said.

'However, some uniquely identifying characteristics are consistent, and time, distance and fuel computations match Bill's theory of her flight route.

Project members also say a local Pacific Islander who witnessed an airplane crash at the site in 1937 or close to that year was recorded and passed on in the oral history by the natives of the island. 

'This crash site may indeed hold the clues to solving one of the greatest mysteries of all time,' the project says.

'Either way, we hope to find out who lost their lives in this crash and give their families closure.'

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were attempting to circumnavigate the globe by plane when they vanished on July 2, 1937. Their remains have never been positively identified, but one research group is convinced that they crash landed on a remote P

Project Blue Angel is planning another expedition to Buka in the Spring that will harness advanced imaging technologies.

It is also trying to raise $200,000 on GoFundMe for the project. 

'This apparent wreckage site is located directly along the route that Amelia flew, in an area that has never been searched,' say the team behind an upcoming film to publicize the search.

HOW DID AMELIA EARHART GET TO BUKA ISLAND? 

'The Buka Island wreck site was directly on Amelia and Fred's flight path, and it is an area never searched by anybody,' said Bill Snavely of Project Blue Angel, which undertook the dive.

For the past 13 years, Bill Snavely has been studying and researching a reported aircraft wreck site in the near coastal waters of Buka Island near Papua New Guinea. 

The site is approximately 100ft [35m] below the ocean’s surface and appears to be an aircraft debris field consistent with the Lockheed Electra 10E in which Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937.

Bill learned of this site in 2005 from a local corrections officer from Buka.

 In 2011, the local government officially asked Bill to investigate the site and determine and authenticate the aircraft.

 The government granted Bill’s team exclusive rights to dive and investigate this site over the next five years.

For the past 13 years, Bill Snavely has been studying and researching a reported aircraft wreck site in the near coastal waters of Buka Island near Papua New Guinea.

This apparent wreckage site is located directly along the route that Amelia flew, in an area that has never been searched. 

Bill appears to be the first to search for Amelia’s aircraft by starting at the beginning of her flight route from Lae, Papua New Guinea to the west and working his way eastward.

Bill’s theory is that Amelia and Fred flew for approximately 12 hours and turned around due to being low on fuel. 

Last year an exhaustive study has pieced together what could be the details of Amelia Earhart's harrowing last days.

In the week after her plane vanished on July 2, 1937, there were 120 reports from around the world claiming to have picked up radio signals and distress calls from Earhart – 57 of which were determined to be credible.

An effort led by Richard Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, analyzed these final transmissions, painting a haunting image of their increasingly desperate situation over the course of seven days.

Challenging one of the widely held theories, which claims her Lockheed Electra crashed and sank in the ocean, the distress calls suggest Earhart and a severely injured Fred Noonan were stranded on a reef, at the mercy of the tides.

Researchers analysed 120 reported distress signals from Earhart after she vanished, and found 57 to be credible. They say the signals all point to Gardner Island as the source, because the clarity of the messages received increases the closer to the islan

The comprehensive new study from TIGHAR's Earhart Project picks apart each distress call received in the week after the pilot's disappearance, revealing an hour-by-hour chronology of the events that transpired.

These heartbreaking messages were picked up around the world by naval stations actively participating in the search, and casual listeners in their homes.

On Friday July 2, hours after her disappearance became known, a station leading the search heard a voice thought to be hears. 

And, when asked to confirm with a series of dashes, three stations heard the response, and one caught the word 'Earhart.'

WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ON AMELIA EARHART'S FINAL DAYS?

Theory One: Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan crash into the Pacific a few miles short of their intended destination due to visibility and gas problems, and die instantly.

Theory Two: Earhart and Noonan crash land on the island of Nikumaroro, where they later die at the hands of coconut crabs, which hunt for food at night and grow up to three-feet long. The name comes from their ability to opened the hardened shells of coconuts.

Theory Three: Earhart and Noonan veer drastically off course and crash land near the Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. They are rescued but soon taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese and sent to a camp in Saipan. Noonan is beheaded and Earhart dies in 1939 from malaria or dysentery.

Theory Four: Earhart and Noonan make it to Howland Island as planned and are eaten by cannibals. 

Theory Five:  Earhart was an American spy sent to gather information on the Japanese ahead of World War II. 

Theory Six: Earhart and Noonan are unable to locate Howland Island, and head toward their 'contingency plan'. After a ten hour journey back toward the location they came from, they crash in the jungle of East New Britain Island, in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.

There are several conflicting theories about Earhart's disappearance. The alleged details of Earhart's final flight, and where she is believed to have ended up based on different theories over the years

In the week after her plane vanished on July 2, 1937, there were 120 reports from around the world claiming to have picked up radio signals and distress calls from Earhart – 57 of which were determined to be credible

The researchers are working on the theory that Earhart managed to land her Lockheed Electra on a reef which surrounds the islands, where it sat for at least a week (mock-up image)

Later that night in the second 'active period' of signalling, a housewife from Amarillo, Texas heard Earhart say she was 'down on an uncharted island - small, uninhabited.'

The transmission went on to say the plane was 'part on land, part in water,' and that the navigator Fred Noonan was seriously injured, and needed immediate medical attention.

That same night, a woman from Ashland, Kentucky heard Earhart say the plane was 'down in ocean' and 'on or near a little island.'

The timing of the distress signals, all of which came at night, coincide with low tide patterns on the reef. Researchers say this is the only time that Earhart would have been able to run the plane's engine without the propeller hitting the water, in orde

She continued: 'Our plane is about out of gas. Water all around. Very dark,' before going on to mention a storm and winds blowing.

'Will have to get out of here,' she said. 'We can't stay here long.'

Almost all of signals considered to be credible can be traced back to Gardner Island, where Earhart and Noonan were likely marooned on a reef.

But, Gillespie explains in the new paper, transmitting from this spot presented a dilemma.

'The radios relied on the aircraft's batteries, but battery power was needed to start the generator-equipped starboard engine to recharge the batteries,' the researcher writes.

'If the lost fliers ran down the batteries sending distress calls they wouldn't be able to start the engine. 

'The only sensible thing to do was to only send radio calls when the engine was running and charging the batteries. But on the reef, the tide comes in and the tide goes out.'

According to Gillespie, building off earlier research done with colleague Bob Brandenburg, the signals could only be sent out when the water was below 26 inches, leaving the propeller tip clear.

As suspected, Gillespie found that the timing of the distress calls lines up with periods where water on the reef would have been low.

Most were sent at night, likely because darkness offered cooler temperatures after long days in the harsh island sun.

Each period of active transmission lasted roughly an hour, with a period of silence lasting about an hour and a half in between.

This, according to Gillespie, repeated each day until high tide or daylight.

Heartbreaking distress calls were picked up around the world by naval stations actively participating in the search, and casual listeners in their homes. Above, Earhart is seen on the wing of her plane before her last flight in 1937

On Saturday July 3, during the sixth active period, a male voice was heard for the first time, suggesting Noonan, though injured, was still alive and 'functioning rationally.'

The following day, a 16-year-old boy in Wyoming heard the pilot say the ship was on a reef. And, the station at Howland Island heard a both a man's voice and a woman's, with the message 'tell husband alright.'

On only one occasion did the crew send Morse code, as neither were skilled in the technique.

A 'poorly keyed' message received by the US Navy Radio Facility in Wailupe, near Honolulu, on July 5 stated: '281 North Howland Call KHAQQ Beyond North Don't Hold With Us Much Longer Above Water Shut Off.'

Among the most famous are the snippets heard by 15-year-old, Betty Klenck, in St. Petersburg, Florida, that same day.

Using her family's radio, Klenck heard exchanges between Earhart and Noonan that indicated the injured navigator had become irrational.

In 1940, bones were discovered on Gardner Island – now called Nikumaroro (pictured) – 400 miles south of Earhart's planned stopover on Howland Island. An expert on skeletal biology now believes the bones are '99% likely' to be Earhart's

The two could be heard calling for help and discussing the rising water with urgency. 

According to Klenck, Noonan could also be heard yelling, and complaining about his head.

In her notes, Klenck wrote that Earheart 'said a few cuss words and sounds like she was having trouble getting water so high the plane was slipping.'

The transmission ended shortly after.

According to Gillespie, the last active period occurred on Wednesday July 7, from 12:25 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. The researcher's estimates indicate the water level would have reached the cabin – and the transmitter – by 6 o'clock the following morning.

The photo shows how the high tide submerged the reef at Gardner Island

In one of the final haunting messages, Thelma Lovelace of St Johns, New Brunswick heard: 'Can you read me? Can you read me? This is Amelia Earhart. This is Amelia Earhart. Please come in.'

She went on to give the latitude and longitude, which Lovelace wrote down and later lost.

Then, Earhart continued: 'We have taken in water, my navigator is badly hurt. My navigator is badly hurt. We are in need of medical care and must have help; we can't hold on much longer.'

After Wednesday July 7, there were no more credible signals, leaving Earhart and Noonan's final moments a mystery.

'At some time between 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 7, when the last Credible Beyond a Reasonable Doubt transmission was sent, and the morning of Friday, July 9, the Electra was washed over the reef into the ocean where it broke up and sank,' Gillespie wrote.

'When three US Navy search planes from the battleship USS Colorado flew over Gardner Island on the morning of Friday, July 9, no aircraft was seen.'

A set of bones discovered on Gardner Island in 1940, now known as Nikumaroro, provided what's considered to be among the best evidence of the doomed pilot's final resting place.

According to Richard Jantz, an expert on skeletal biology at the University of Tennessee who analyzed the skeleton, the remains are '99% likely' to be hers.