Two missing U.S. Navy aviators were declared dead on Sunday, days after a jet crashed in the wilderness near Mount Rainier in Washington state. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” Cmdr. Timothy Warburton of the Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ 130 said in a press release, using the nickname for Washington-based electronic warfare unit. Personnel at the crash site were still working, the Naval Station said in a statement to the Daily Beast, and “planning for the long-term salvage and recovery effort.” The identities of the deceased airmen would not be released until their next-of-kin were notified and the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Navy officials said. The Boeing EA-18G Growler crashed on Tuesday afternoon during a routine training flight, Naval Station Whidbey Island confirmed in a press release. The wreckage of the jet was discovered east of Mount Rainier the very next day in a “remote, steep and heavily-wooded,” the naval station said in another update on Thursday.
