Fate of 2 Navy airmen remains a mystery after crash near Mount Rainier: Officials

The fate of two U.S. Navy pilots remained a mystery Wednesday, a day after their fighter jet crashed during a routine training flight and search-and-rescue crews reported finding no sign of them or the wreckage in the rugged landscape of northeast Washington.

"Responders are facing mountainous terrain, cloudy weather, and low visibility as the search is ongoing," Navy officials said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

The jet, an EA-18G Growler aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 130 , crashed at about 3:23 p.m. on Tuesday about 30 miles west of Yakima on the eastern side of Mount Rainier, according to the Navy.

Neither the two-person crew nor the wreckage has been located, military officials said.

The jet crashed after launching a training flight from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, officials said.

An MH-60S helicopter crew was immediately launched to search for the missing airmen and wreckage, officials said. Additional rescue units from the U.S. Navy Fleet Reconnaissance Squadron One, Patrol Squadron, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Search and Rescue and the U.S. Army 4-6 Air Calvary Squadron from Joint Base Luis-McChord in Washington were also involved in the search, officials said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, according to the statement.

The Growler aircraft, which according to the Navy is worth about $67 million, is "the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy's first line of defense in hostile environments."

The 130 squadron adopted the nickname "Zappers" when it was commissioned as the Carrier Early Warning Squadron 13 in 1959, the military said.

The squadron was most recently deployed to the Southern Red Sea, where it carried out seven pre-planned strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, according to a statement.

The Zappers also carried out some 700 combat missions " to degrade the Houthi capability to threaten innocent shipping," according to a press release announcing the squadron's return to Washington in July.