U.S. Naval officials confirmed Sunday that the two crew members of a Navy jet that crashed near Mount Rainier in Washington last week were located and declared dead.
The EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron out of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station crashed on a mountainside east of Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon. While the wreckage of the plane was located resting about 6,000 feet up in a remote, steep and heavily-wooded area, the status of the crew remained unknown without a site assessment of the debris area.
Army Special Forces soldiers trained in mountaineering, high-angle rescue, medical and technical communication skills needed to navigate the difficult terrain assisted with efforts to locate the missing crew members as quickly as possible…