(CNN) � The US Navy is searching for two crew members after their aircraft crashed near Mount Rainier in Washington during a training flight on Tuesday.
A US Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft — assigned to the Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 in Washington — crashed on Tuesday afternoon east of Mount Rainier, according to a release from Naval Air Forces.
“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,� the release said. “As of 7 p.m. on Oct. 15, the status of the two crew members remains unknown.�
Search and rescue operations were still ongoing on Wednesday morning.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare aircraft, and variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The crash is under investigation, the Navy said. The unit the Growler belongs to recently completed a deployment aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Middle East. A  said the unit “scored the first-ever air-to-air kill by a VAQ squadron in Navy history� during the deployment.
“Words can’t do justice to how proud I am of this ‘Zapper� Team which performed their duty in combat amidst incredibly challenging circumstances for months on end, frequently not knowing what each day would bring,� Cmdr. Carl Ellsworth, the squadron’s commanding officer, . “The best of our country is right here at VAQ-130.�
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