Three of the four US Army soldiers who went missing in Lithuania last week when their vehicle sank in a swamp have been found dead at the site, while the search for a fourth soldier continues, Lithuania’s president said Monday.
“It is with deep sadness and sorrow that I received the news of the tragic loss of three US soldiers during a US-led training exercise in Lithuania. The search and rescue operation will continue until the fourth soldier is found,” Gitanas Nauseda wrote in a post on X.
The US Army confirmed the find. “Three US Army Soldiers assigned to 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division were found deceased in Lithuania today, March 31,” US Army Europe and Africa’s public affairs office said in a statement.
It added that “search and recovery operations continue for the remaining fourth soldier.”
Armored vehicle recovered from swamp
Earlier on Monday, after a six-day search, authorities in Lithuania recovered a US vehicle of four US soldiers that went missing last week during a training exercise.
However, the recovery of the vehicle has not initially shed light on the fate of the four US soldiers who were on board. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry said the investigation was still ongoing.
“After the operation to remove the armored vehicle from the swamp is completed, the Lithuanian Military Police and US investigators are continuing their work at the site,” the ministry wrote on social media.
“We will remain patient and focused as they gather more information about the situation.”
Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said the towing operation was completed at 4:30 a.m. local time (0130 UTC) and that Lithuanian military police and US investigators were “currently working at the scene.”
“If the recovery of the vehicle does not provide all the answers, the work will have to continue,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
What do we know about the incident?
The four soldiers were taking part in a tactical training exercise at a large training area in the eastern Lithuanian town of Pabrade, just 10 kilometers west of the border with Belarus. They and their M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle were reported missing in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the US Army said.
In response, the Lithuanian military and police launched a joint search operation with the US military. This eventually led to the location of the vehicle on Wednesday. Is was submerged in about 5 meters of water in a marshy area of the training area.
Hundreds of local and foreign troops and other rescue personnel, including engineers and divers, were involved in the rescue operation to recover the vehicle.
More than 1,000 American troops are stationed in Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, on a rotating basis.
Lithuania’s relations with Russia and with Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, have soured over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
