Vehicle recovered, but soldiers remain unaccounted for
A US armored vehicle that had been missing for six days has been retrieved from a Lithuanian swamp, but the fate of the four American soldiers on board remains unknown.
The vehicle was retrieved early Monday morning, according to Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė.
The soldiers disappeared along with their vehicle during a training exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė early last Tuesday, the US Army confirmed. Lithuanian Military Police and US investigators continue their work at the scene.
Official statement on the recovery
“The armored vehicle was pulled ashore at 4:40 a.m.; the towing operation is complete; Lithuanian Military Police and US investigators continue their work,” Defense Minister Šakalienė said Monday morning in a Facebook post.
“Until the investigators have more details, we need to stay calm and focused and keep in mind the sensitivity of the situation and the concerns of the soldiers’ families,” she added.
Search efforts and challenging conditions
The missing soldiers, all from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting tactical training when they went missing.
Hundreds of Lithuanian and US soldiers, along with rescue teams, participated in the search across the dense forests and swampy terrain near Pabradė, which is located just 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the Belarusian border.
The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle was discovered on Wednesday, submerged in 4.5 meters (15 feet) of water.
A large-scale recovery operation was launched, but “water, thick mud, and soft ground around the site have complicated recovery efforts and have required specialized equipment to drain water from the site and stabilize the ground” in order to pull the 70-ton vehicle ashore, the army stated.
Initial reports and geopolitical context
Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT initially reported that four soldiers and their vehicle had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground.
The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—NATO members—have often had tense relations with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
