SAPPHO — U.S. Forest Service officials have closed Forest Service Road 2923 and the surrounding area as the U.S. Navy begins its investigation into Thursday’s crash of a Whidbey Island-based EA-6B Prowler.
The three crewmen aboard the electronic warfare aircraft from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station ejected before the Prowler slammed into the ground in a remote wilderness area approximately six miles south of Klahowya Campground on U.S. Highway 101 east of Sappho.
“Due to security reasons and the amount of potential recovery activity in the area of the crash site, it is necessary to close roads and a portion of the national forest to public use,” Olympic National Forest Acting Supervisor Luis Satoyo said.
The air space above the crash site remains closed, said Karen Byrd, an officer with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Northwest Mountain Region Headquarters office in Renton.
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