One Royal Air Force crew member has died and two others are believed dead following the crash of two Tornado jets off the Scottish coast, British officials said Wednesday.

The two-seat GR4 Tornado jets were flying over the Moray Firth inlet, off eastern Scotland, when contact with them was lost on Tuesday. Two crew members were plucked from the water and hospitalized. The search for the other two was suspended that night due to bad weather.

The Ministry of Defense said Wednesday that one officer from 15 (Reserve) Squadron, based at RAF Lossiemouth, had died and another is in serious but stable condition in a hospital.

Group Capt. Ian Gale, Station Commander at the base, confirmed that two personnel remain unaccounted for and that due to "extremely poor" weather conditions the search operation remains suspended.

"The operation will be resumed as a recovery operation as soon as possible, but we must be realistic: given the length of time that has elapsed since the accident, there is no expectation of recovering missing personnel alive," he said in a statement.