The U.S. military says a team has identified the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in Nepal as that of a missing aircraft taking aid to villagers hit hard by an earthquake late last month.

Earlier Friday, Nepal's Defense Ministry said the wreckage of the U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared Tuesday with eight people onboard had been spotted in a mountainous area of east-central Nepal, and that it was not possible for anyone onboard to have survived.

Voce of America (VOA) said Defense secretary Iswari Prasad Poudel told reporters three charred bodies had been recovered at the accident site and the search for the others was ongoing.

US Pacific Command made a statement on the matter Friday.

"The assessment of the site is ongoing and a thorough investigation will be conducted," the statement said. There was no mention of the fate of the passengers, but a U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday that six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese civilians were onboard.