Two Navy pilots are dead after their jet crashed Tuesday during a training flight near Mount Rainier, Wash., the Navy said Sunday, ending a days-long, multiagency search across a remote, forested area.

Personnel will continue to search the area, recover debris from the wrecked EA-18G Growler jet and plan for a long-term salvage and recovery effort, according to the Navy.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” said Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, who led the unit where the pilots were assigned. “Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators, and ensuring the well-being of our sailors and the Growler community.”

The pilots’ identities are being withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified, the Navy said in a statement. Navy officials did not return requests for comment Sunday.

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U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, Navy helicopters and the local sheriff’s office spent days combing the steep, heavily wooded slopes near Mount Rainier in their search for the two pilots.

The Yakima County Sheriff’s Office said the wreckage was found at an elevation of 6,000 feet in a remote area that could not be reached by motor vehicle. Special Forces soldiers were brought in from nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord because of their expertise in mountaineering, navigation and high-angle rescues using ropes and pulleys.

Aerial search crews found the pilots’ downed EA-18G Growler on Wednesday, crashed along a mountainside east of Mount Rainer, and some 175 miles south of the jet’s home base at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

It took until Friday for teams to reach the wreckage, which crews had to sift through over “an expansive area,” the Navy said at the time. Mike Welding, a spokesman for NAS Whidbey Island, told The Washington Post on Saturday that the search for the two pilots was ongoing even after rescuers reached the crash site.

On Sunday, the Navy determined the pilots had died and search crews shifted from a rescue effort to recovery operations.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the Navy. The EA-18G Growler that the two pilots were flying is an electronic warfare variant of the well-known F-18 fighter jet, with a suite of equipment capable of jamming enemy radars and communications.