Rescuers in Lithuania were digging in a peat bog Thursday as they tried to recover the submerged vehicle of four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during a training exercise earlier this week.
The M88 Hercules armored vehicle was found more than 16 feet under water Wednesday, a day after the soldiers went missing while training with Lithuanian armed forces and law enforcement.
The U.S. Army said in a statement Thursday that the “search and recovery” for the soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, was ongoing. The initial search involved hundreds of U.S. and Lithuanian soldiers and law enforcement that scoured the area’s thick forests and swampy terrain, according to the statement, as well as as Lithuanian military helicopters and diving teams.
“We are leveraging every available U.S. and Lithuanian asset to coordinate for and provide the required resources for this effort,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the commanding general of 1st Armored Division, said in the statement.
The recovery effort, which have been underway for the last 48 hours, has required specialized equipment to pump water and mud from the site and stabilize the soft ground of the surrounding area, which will allow it to support the heavy equipment needed to recover the vehicle.
“Due to the terrain, this is an incredibly complex engineering effort,” said Maj. Robin Bruce, 1st Armored Division Engineer. “The team is exploring every available option to speed up this process.”
Military vehicles at the training range in Pabrade, Lithuania, on Thursday.Mindaugas Kulbis / AP
Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas expressed support for the rescue operation Thursday after visiting the training ground near the town of Pabradė, about 30 miles south of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and 6 miles from the border with Belarus.
“Our thoughts & prayers are with their families and brothers in arms,” he said in a post on X.
He was joined at the scene by Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė, who said she was “deeply saddened” by the soldiers’ disappearance.
President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday evening that he had not been briefed about the missing soldiers.
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic that is now in the European Union, has been a NATO member since 2004. It has hosted hundreds of American troops on a rotational basis since 2014 as part of a U.S. operation called “Atlantic Resolve” in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region, which began after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine.
The country shares a 421-mile border with Belarus, led by Alexander Lukashenko, who was sworn in for a seventh term Tuesday and has been called “Europe’s last dictator.” Lukashenko has been a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowing him to use Belarus as a staging area for his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Astha Rajvanshi
