Two missing military aviators have been declared dead, several days after their aircraft crashed in the north-west US, during a training flight, commanders said.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” Commander Timothy Warburton, commander of the US Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 130, nicknamed the “Zappers,” said.
The aircraft, an EA-18G Growler — assigned to the Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 — crashed east of Mount Rainier in Washington state during a training mission last Tuesday.
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The Navy, US Army Special Forces soldiers and local law enforcement had been searching for the crew members since the crash.
The site of the crash was finally found last Thursday, but search-and-rescue teams did not reach the site until last Friday.
The US Navy said last week that the site was at roughly 1800 metres and in “a remote, steep and heavily wooded area.”
The Navy said Sunday that personnel were still on-site continuing “to search the expansive area, recovering debris and planning for the long-term salvage and recovery effort.”
The identities of the two crew members have not yet been released. The cause of last week’s crash remains under investigation.
An EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare aircraft and variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
The unit the Growler belonged to recently completed a deployment in the Middle East aboard the aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
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