Vehicle found in hunt for missing US soldiers feared dead after vanishing during NATO war drill in Lithuania
26 March 2025, 21:02 | Updated: 26 March 2025, 21:50
A vehicle has been found in the hunt for four US soldiers feared dead after they went missing during a NATO drill in Lithuania.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The four soldiers, who were training near the Lithuanian border with Belarus, are yet to be found.
"The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident," the US army said in a statement.
"The M88 Hercules armoured recovery vehicle the four missing U.S. Soldiers were operating during a training exercise, has been located in Lithuania."
Early reports indicate that the vehicle the servicemen were in may have fallen into a body of water.
The U.S. embassy confirmed in a social media statement on Wednesday that the four had gone missing at General Silvestras ukauskas training ground near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania.They did not confirm when they went missing.
The embassy said on X: "The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident.
"Search and recovery efforts are underway."
While the soldiers are feared dead, this is yet to be confirmed.
National Security and Defense Committee chairman Giedrimas Jeglinskas said after the soldiers were reported missing: "We truly appreciate and are grateful for the US presence here.
"We have created all the conditions for them to increase their military readiness.
"Such events do indeed occur during large-scale joint military exercises, not only among the Americans, but also in other armies."The aim is to reduce the likelihood of such things, but such things are not impossible.
"If there was some kind of accident, lessons are learned, and safety requirements are increased."
