Search continues for missing US soldier in Lithuania as bodies of three others recovered

Authorities in Lithuania are still searching for the last of four US Army soldiers following the recovery of the bodies of the three others in their armoured vehicle, which was pulled from a bog on Monday.

According to US Army Europe and Africa Command, the deceased soldiers, who were part of the 1st Armoured Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, went missing in the early morning hours of Wednesday 25 March while on a mission to tow an immobilised tactical vehicle from a bog in the eastern town of Pabradė, close to the Belarusian border.

According to Lieutenant General Remigijus Baltrėnas, chief of the defence staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, a navy dive team is still searching for the missing soldier.

“The divers continue their work and dive to find any signs of where the soldier might be,” he said. “Water sonars are being used to try to pinpoint the locations.”

“The third thing that is being done is the use of a drone which has scanning equipment. And the drone is scanning the surface of the water, possibly detecting where the soldier might be.”

Meanwhile, in a social media post, Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda said on Monday that, “The search and rescue operation will continue until the fourth soldier is found.”

On Thursday 26 March, US and Lithuanian military personnel found the vehicles submerged in water. The first three bodies were only recovered on Monday after US, Polish, and Lithuanian armed forces and authorities took six days to dig out the M88A2 Hercules armoured vehicle.

According to an official US statement, the recovery team faced the challenge of pulling out the 63-ton vehicle in unstable ground conditions.

Meanwhile, the US Army and Lithuanian authorities are investigating what caused the incident.