South Korea's Navy said Wednesday it has recovered the bodies of all three crew members who were aboard a chopper that crashed into the sea off the country's east coast earlier this week.

The Navy found one body at 12:21 a.m. and another at 4:28 a.m. Wednesday, after the first was pulled from the water at around 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, Navy officials told reporters. It said a remotely operated underwater vehicle was used for the search operations.

The three Navy personnel went missing after their Lynx antisubmarine helicopter crashed into the East Sea at around 9:05 p.m. Monday during joint drills between the militaries of South Korea and the United States.

The Navy is in the process of determining the cause of the fatal crash, and has grounded all Lynx helicopters till an investigation is completed. (Yonhap)