Lithuanian rescuers dug into the peat marsh Thursday as they attempted to retrieve submerged vehicles of four US soldiers who went missing during a training exercise earlier this week.
The M88 Hercules armored vehicle was found under water more than 16 feet on Wednesday, the day after the soldiers disappeared while training with Lithuanian forces and law enforcement.
The U.S. Army said in a statement Thursday that “search and recovery” of all soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division is currently underway. The initial search included hundreds of us, Lithuanian soldiers and law enforcement who washed away the thick forest and swamp terrain of the area, including Lithuanian military helicopters and diving teams, according to the statement.
“We are leveraging all available US and Lithuanian assets to coordinate and provide the resources needed for this effort,” Army Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander general of the 1st Armored Division, said in a statement.
The recovery efforts on the past 48 hours have required specialized equipment to pump water and mud from the site and stabilize the soft ground in the surrounding area. This allows for the support of the heavy machinery required to retrieve the vehicle.
“Because of the terrain, this is a very complicated engineering effort,” said Major General Robin Bruce, engineer at 1st Armor. “The team is investigating all the options available to speed up this process.”
Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintoautas Paraka expressed his support for rescue operations on Thursday after visiting a training ground near Pabrad town, about 30 miles south of Lithuania’s capital, six miles from the border with Belarus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are armed with their families and brothers,” he said in an X post.
He joined Devil Chakalien on the scene.
President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday evening that the missing soldier had not been described.
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic now in the European Union, has been a member of NATO since 2004. Since 2014, it has hosted hundreds of American troops as part of the US operations in the Baltic region that began after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine as part of the US operation in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region, known as the “Atlantic Solution” in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.
The country shares a 421-mile border with Belarus, led by Alexander Lukashenko, who was sworn in for the seventh term on Tuesday and is known as “European last dictator.” Lukashenko is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowing Belarus to be used in 2022 as a staging area for the invasion of Ukraine.
