A vehicle has been found in the hunt for four American soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania, the US Army said on Wednesday.
The search for the missing soldiers – who were at the Pabrade training ground near the Lithuanian border with Belarus – is ongoing.
Battalions of US soldiers have been based in the military camp since 2019, in rotations.
“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.”
An “intensive” rescue operation is currently underway, Lithuania’s military wrote on X.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he had received word of the deaths of the soldiers but a NATO spokesperson later clarified his comments.
They said: “The secretary general was referring to news reports that had just emerged. He did not confirm the death of the four US soldiers, but noted that the details remain unconfirmed.”
Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene, who visited the training site late on Wednesday, said no bodies had been
found.
“That’s why it would be wrong to say that the soldiers are dead,” she said.
US and Lithuanian armies said the search was expected to continue through the night.
Lithuanian Chief of Defence Raimundas Vaiksnoras said the rescue team are investigating how fast the swampy location could be drained.
He said: “You all know how important is the presence of US troops in Lithuania. Their soldiers are like our soldiers to us. So we spare no effort to find them.”
