Searchers on Friday recovered the bodies of three crew members who were aboard the MH-47E Chinook helicopter when it plunged into deep water before dawn. The cause of the crash remained unknown. 

The search extended several miles from the crash site two miles southwest of Apo. Beaches also were being scanned from the air for debris

The Army soldiers aboard the helicopter were identified by the Pentagon as Maj. Curtis D. Feistner, Capt. Bartt D. Owens, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jody L. Egnor, Staff Sgt. James P. Dorrity, Staff Sgt. Kerry W. Frith, Staff Sgt. Bruce A. Rushforth Jr., Sgt. Jeremy D. Foshee and Spec. Thomas F. Allison. The Air Force members were identified as Master Sgt. William L. McDaniel II and Staff Sgt. Juan M. Ridout. 

"We should not rule out a miracle," said Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, commander of the Philippine military's Southern Command. "People can stay in the water for about one week, so we must not abandon the rescue. 

"The fight is against time." 

Air Force Maj. David Mobley said all those on board had extensive training in surviving in the open ocean. 

"We don't give up hope," he said Saturday in Zamboanga. 

Crash investigators from Fort Rucker, Ala., will arrive soon, a U.S. statement said. 

Maj. Paul Fitzpatrick, an Army spokesman at Fort Campbell, Ky., said the eight-member crew was from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and the other two passengers were Air Force para-rescue jumpers. 

The 160th, known as the "Night Stalkers," slips special forces commandos behind enemy lines aboard Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. 

The helicopter crashed while shuttling special forces and supplies from Zamboanga, home to the Philippine military's Southern Command, to nearby Basilan, a stronghold for Abu Sayyaf rebels. 

The 160 special forces will train Philippine soldiers to fight the Abu Sayyaf, who hold a Kansas missionary couple and a Filipino nurse hostage on Basilan. 

Early suspicions about the cause of the crash focused on mechanical failure. Witnesses said the helicopter was burning before impact, but U.S. and Philippine military officials said it was not hit by hostile fire. 

Some debris — including a rotor, a fuse box, the fuselage and a pilot's helmet — was recovered by gunboats and a Coast Guard patrol boat Friday. 

Cimatu said the helicopter's emergency beacon was believed to be in about 600 feet of water. Parts of the sea floor in the area are at least a quarter-mile deep, area residents say. 

Charito Tabanera, 37, was fishing when he saw the helicopter crash about two miles from him. 

"I saw a fireball and it fell into the sea." 

Tabanera said the wind was so strong and the waters so choppy that he couldn't head toward the crash. Other fisherman said they believed they were watching a meteorite.