Navy jet crashes in Washington state; crew members missing

A search is ongoing for a Navy aircraft and two crew members who crashed east of Mount Rainier in Washington state Tuesday, according to the Navy.

The EA-18G Growler, based out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., crashed just after 3:20 p.m. local time during a routine training flight, the Navy said in a statement.

“Multiple search and rescue assets, including a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter, launched from NAS Whidbey Island to locate the crew and examine the crash site,” according to the release. “As of 7 p.m. on Oct. 15, the status of the two crew members remains unknown.”

No additional details were given and the cause of the crash is under investigation. 

The Navy EA-18G Growler is an electronic attack aircraft that is a variant of F/A-18 aircraft. The missing plane was from Electronic Attack Squadron 130, known as the “Zappers,” and is the oldest electronic warfare squadron in the Navy.

The squadron had recently returned to Whidbey Island after a nine-month deployment in the Southern Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden to “maintain the freedom of navigation in international waterways” and “degrade the Houthi capability to threaten innocent shipping,” the Navy said in an earlier statement.