Status of Navy Crew Still Unknown as Mountainous Terrain Slows Efforts to Reach Growler Wreckage

The search-and-rescue efforts for two aviators who went down with a Navy EA-18G Growler on Tuesday in Washington state are being hampered by rough, mountainous terrain, which has necessitated even more outside help, the U.S. Navy said in an update late Thursday.

The Navy said that soldiers from 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), based at nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, are now assisting in the efforts to reach the plane wreckage at an elevation of 6,000 feet on a steep and heavily wooded area east of Mount Rainier.

According to the update, the Special Forces unit “brings specialized mountaineering, high-angle rescue, medical, and technical communication skills necessary to navigate the difficult terrain associated with the Cascade Mountain Range that is inaccessible by other means.”

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“We are confident that we have the capability we need at this time,” Capt. Nathan Gammache, the commander of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, said in the statement late Thursday.

The Navy launched search-and-rescue efforts shortly after the Growler went down on Tuesday, and by Wednesday, those efforts involved two of its own squadrons, Whidbey Island’s search-and-rescue teams and an Army Air Cavalry squadron from Lewis-McChord, as well as Yakima County local and tribal authorities.

By Wednesday afternoon, the service announced that it had located the wreckage of the plane but offered no update on the crew.

“Our priority is to locate our two aviators as quickly and as safely as possible,” Capt. David Ganci, commander of the Electronic Attack Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in the statement.

The Navy’s latest statement makes clear that rescuers need to access the wreck before any determination about the crew’s status is made.

Ganci also noted that even once rescuers reach the plane, it could be some time before news of the two aviators’ fate is made public. If they are found deceased, Defense Department procedure calls for a 24-hour waiting period after next of kin have been notified.

The jet that went down belonged to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, or VAQ-130, based out of Whidbey Island.

The squadron, also known as the “Zappers,” had returned from a combat deployment with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower where they saw major action against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Eisenhower, along with other ships in the area, carried out a variety of strikes and defensive actions against incoming missile attacks and small boats with armed fighters as the Iranian-backed rebel group used its weapons arsenal to strike at merchant shipping in the Red Sea.

Near the end of their deployment, the Navy awarded the Eisenhower and six other ship crews combat action ribbons for their work, but the Zappers also distinguished themselves as a squadron.

After their return home this summer, a Navy statement noted that one of its pilots scored the first air-to-air kill by a Growler in Navy history, and they were the first squadron to use an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile, or AARGM, in combat.

Related: Search for Navy Crew of Crashed Growler Aircraft Underway in Washington State

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