Bones found on a remote Pacific island almost eight decades ago likely are those of pioneering American pilot Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1932, a new study has claimed. Earhart, her plane, and her navigator vanished without a trace in 1937 over the Pacific Ocean. If true, the findings would finally solve a mystery that has fascinated generations since Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the world in 1937, CNN reported on Thursday.

The study re-examined measurements of several bones found on the Pacific island of Nikumaroro, about 2,900 km southwest of Hawaii, in 1940. Researcher Richard Jantz wrote that what he found "strongly supports the conclusion that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to Amelia Earhart". The details were published in a research article authored by Jantz, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Tennessee, in the journal Forensic Anthropology.