Source: ABC News
Date: 02 March 2011
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/03/3154684.htm
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Rumours involving sunken treasure and one of the world's great aviation mysteries are swirling around the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.
Locals believe a plane wreck could be the final resting place of American airwoman Amelia Earhart who disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in 1937.
Even more incredibly they say there's gold bullion on board and that a giant snake is guarding the wreck.
But an expert on Earhart's disappearance says the claim is "silly beyond description".
Our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports.
LIAM FOX: The rumour mill or coconut wireless as it's known is always running hot on Bougainville.
Many of the tall tales that fly around the island involve gold. One of them was given prominence by the Post Courier newspaper this week with the front-page headline "Plane wreck believed to be Earhart".
It said there are "strong indications" a plane wreck found off the coast of Bougainville was the one flown by Amelia Earhart who famously disappeared in 1937 while attempting to become the first pilot to circle the globe close to the equator.
If that wasn't amazing enough the report said there was gold bullion on board and a six-metre snake was guarding the wreck.
The man at the centre of the claim is local businessman Cletus Harepa who's paying for divers to inspect the wreck.
CLETUS HAREPA: Somebody saw it when they were diving for fish. And they saw the plane but they don't know that that plane was Amelia's plane until I got my diver to dive 7200 metre down. And I told my diver, go and get something inside.
LIAM FOX: He says a diver found two skulls in the cockpit and three boxes of gold bullion but the bars were too heavy to carry to the surface.
What will you do if you recover the gold? Will you keep it for yourself or do you give it to the government? What's your plan?
CLETUS HAREPA: The government can have some. I will have some. But what I want to do is improve the island. Get a good hospital, a good school, good water supply and maybe a small boat.
LIAM FOX: Mr Harepa admits they're yet to find proof the wreck is Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra.
But he's confident it is the plane because of another, older rumour that female pilots used to smuggle gold out of Lae on the PNG mainland in the 1930s.
Lae was Earhart's last stop before she vanished.
Mr Harepa does say however that the story about the giant snake is rubbish.
CLETUS HAREPA: It's an eel, it's a brown eel that uses the plane as a place to hide.
LIAM FOX: American Ric Gillespie is a leading expert on the Earhart mystery and has spent the last 22 years trying to find her final resting place.
RIC GILLESPIE: These stories about gold bullion and a six-metre snake guarding the wreckage are just frankly hilarious.
There is simply no way that the Earhart aircraft could be anywhere near Papua New Guinea.
LIAM FOX: Mr Gillespie says radio transmissions and other evidence indicates Earhart landed on Nikumaroro atoll in the Central Pacific where she and her navigator later perished from a lack of food and water.
He says the story coming out of Bougainville is testament to the enduring mystery surrounding her disappearance.
RIC GILLESPIE: The whole thing is silly beyond description. But I guess it's just an indication of how popular the Earhart mystery is and how everybody wants a piece of that action.
LIAM FOX: Meanwhile gold fever has broken out on Bougainville with armed men reportedly preventing outsiders from diving on the wreck.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: That's our PNG correspondent Liam Fox with that report.
Ynews ©2010 ABC
Date: 02 March 2011
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/03/3154684.htm
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Rumours involving sunken treasure and one of the world's great aviation mysteries are swirling around the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.
Locals believe a plane wreck could be the final resting place of American airwoman Amelia Earhart who disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in 1937.
Even more incredibly they say there's gold bullion on board and that a giant snake is guarding the wreck.
But an expert on Earhart's disappearance says the claim is "silly beyond description".
Our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports.
LIAM FOX: The rumour mill or coconut wireless as it's known is always running hot on Bougainville.
Many of the tall tales that fly around the island involve gold. One of them was given prominence by the Post Courier newspaper this week with the front-page headline "Plane wreck believed to be Earhart".
It said there are "strong indications" a plane wreck found off the coast of Bougainville was the one flown by Amelia Earhart who famously disappeared in 1937 while attempting to become the first pilot to circle the globe close to the equator.
If that wasn't amazing enough the report said there was gold bullion on board and a six-metre snake was guarding the wreck.
The man at the centre of the claim is local businessman Cletus Harepa who's paying for divers to inspect the wreck.
CLETUS HAREPA: Somebody saw it when they were diving for fish. And they saw the plane but they don't know that that plane was Amelia's plane until I got my diver to dive 7200 metre down. And I told my diver, go and get something inside.
LIAM FOX: He says a diver found two skulls in the cockpit and three boxes of gold bullion but the bars were too heavy to carry to the surface.
What will you do if you recover the gold? Will you keep it for yourself or do you give it to the government? What's your plan?
CLETUS HAREPA: The government can have some. I will have some. But what I want to do is improve the island. Get a good hospital, a good school, good water supply and maybe a small boat.
LIAM FOX: Mr Harepa admits they're yet to find proof the wreck is Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra.
But he's confident it is the plane because of another, older rumour that female pilots used to smuggle gold out of Lae on the PNG mainland in the 1930s.
Lae was Earhart's last stop before she vanished.
Mr Harepa does say however that the story about the giant snake is rubbish.
CLETUS HAREPA: It's an eel, it's a brown eel that uses the plane as a place to hide.
LIAM FOX: American Ric Gillespie is a leading expert on the Earhart mystery and has spent the last 22 years trying to find her final resting place.
RIC GILLESPIE: These stories about gold bullion and a six-metre snake guarding the wreckage are just frankly hilarious.
There is simply no way that the Earhart aircraft could be anywhere near Papua New Guinea.
LIAM FOX: Mr Gillespie says radio transmissions and other evidence indicates Earhart landed on Nikumaroro atoll in the Central Pacific where she and her navigator later perished from a lack of food and water.
He says the story coming out of Bougainville is testament to the enduring mystery surrounding her disappearance.
RIC GILLESPIE: The whole thing is silly beyond description. But I guess it's just an indication of how popular the Earhart mystery is and how everybody wants a piece of that action.
LIAM FOX: Meanwhile gold fever has broken out on Bougainville with armed men reportedly preventing outsiders from diving on the wreck.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: That's our PNG correspondent Liam Fox with that report.
Ynews ©2010 ABC
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