The Maritime Self-Defense Force confirmed Friday that the two bodies found inside a crashed helicopter salvaged from the sea off northeastern Japan a day before were those of the pilot and copilot.

Three of the four crewmen had been missing since the SH-60J patrol helicopter plunged into the Sea of Japan off Aomori Prefecture during a night landing and takeoff drill in August. The MSDF said it has now ended its search, giving up on finding the remaining crew member.

The pilot was Lt. Cmdr. Yuki Sato, 36, and the copilot was Ensign Hiroaki Tajima, 24. The third missing crewman, Hiroki Uchino, a 36-year-old petty officer 2nd class and flight navigator, has not been found.

The chopper, which took off from the MSDF destroyer Setogiri at 10:33 p.m. on Aug. 26, soon lost contact at about 90 kilometers west-southwest off Cape Tappi and crashed. One crew member was rescued.

The MSDF has concluded that the crash was caused by human error as the aircraft lost balance when the crew members were fixing one of its indicators.

An unmanned underwater vehicle found the helicopter lying on the seabed on Oct. 16 about 2,600 meters below the surface of the sea, near the area where it crashed.