US military working to recover 70 ton vehicle from Lithuanian swamp as 4 Army soldiers remain missing
U.S. Navy divers have successfully attached two lines to hoist points on a sinking M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle that was carrying four U.S. Army soldiers who disappeared early Tuesday during a training exercise near Pabradė, Lithuania.
The soldiers, based in Fort Stewart in Georgia, were riding in the vehicle on a scheduled maintenance mission to recover another U.S. Army vehicle in the training area when they disappeared.
After the second line was attached to a hoist point on the Hercules on Sunday, the Army said the vehicle could be anchored to prevent it from sinking further into the bog it was in.
"Engineers expect to start winching early this morning," the U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a post on X. "The process is projected to take a significant amount of time and effort, as the terrain surrounding the peat bog remains challenging – but the rescue workers will not be deterred."
Earlier in the day, divers had shackled the first line to a hoist point on the Hercules, though winching efforts were expected to take longer than expected with both lines attached because of the amount of pressure and suction from the mud, the Army noted.
U.S. Army operations for Europe and Africa said in a press release that the Hercules had continued to sink into the bog. The vehicle was estimated to be about four meters below the water's surface and encased in about two meters of mud.
To assist with digging and pumping operations, a Rapidly Available Interface for Trans-loading (RAIL) system was expected to arrive on the scene later in the day.
The RAIL system is traditionally used to help offload and onload railroad networks in challenging terrain, though engineers believed it could help stabilize the ground around the recovery site.
"It is highly complex trying to get to the vehicle itself with the terrain out here and where the M88 is sitting in a bog swamp-like area, below the waterline. So not only are we dealing with the terrain, a lot of mud that is over top of the vehicle, but also the fact that it's 70 tons that we're trying to recover out of a swamp or bog," Brig. Gen. John Lloyd, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division said.
In an interview with Fox News Digital Thursday afternoon, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said from the moment the country learned of the incident, it had "given everything" it has, both from its armed forces and internal affairs ministry institutions, to find the soldiers.
"From helicopters with thermal vision to forces on the ground, we are continuing very intensely," Šakalienė said.
Šakalienė said it is unknown if the soldiers could have escaped the vehicle before it sank but reiterated there was "no evidence" confirming the deaths of the missing soldiers as of Thursday afternoon.
The area surrounding the site is a forested area with swamps and bogs, similar to an environment found in Alaska. Weather conditions are also similar, making it a challenging training area for Army personnel.
"Maybe they were lost, confused, hurt or in hypothermic condition, and we haven't found them yet," Šakalienė said. "But we are not losing hope until the very last moment. These are strong soldiers, strong, grown men. All scenarios are possible."
She added Lithuania, a member of NATO, considers American soldiers their own and will not leave them behind.
Despite ongoing efforts, the soldiers have yet to be located.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division is keeping the soliders' families updated on the search.
"This tragic situation weighs heavily on all of us, and we're keeping the families, friends and teammates of our soldiers and recovery team in our thoughts and prayers," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the commanding general of 1st Armored Division, wrote in a statement last week. "We want everyone to know we will not stop until our soldiers are found."
President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday he had not been briefed about the missing soldiers.
The training site is less than 6 miles from Belarus, a Russian ally since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
Lithuania, a Catholic country, organized a joint prayer Sunday at its main church, the capital cathedral, and hosted a mass for the missing soldiers.
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