The American army says that the recovery of 4 soldiers who disappeared in Lithuania “will be a long and difficult operation”

Pabrade, Lithuania – The president of Lithuania said on Friday that he hoped “a miracle” while visiting the site for a rescue operation to recover four missing American army soldiers from their submerged vehicle. The four soldiers, assigned to the 1st army brigade, the 3rd infantry division, disappeared early Tuesday morning during a maintenance mission to recover another US army vehicle in the Pabrade training area, near the border of Lithuania with the Bélarus, during a missing training, said the army.

Friday, research and rescue teams were on the scene using heavy military equipment and excavators to remove the silt from the body of water where the vehicle was found on Wednesday.

“I still hope a miracle,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Naseda told Pabrade. “Although many skeptics would probably say that there is nothing to hope for in these circumstances, I want to believe.”

Military staff work on the site of a rescue operation to recover four soldiers of the US military who disappeared on the training ground of Pabrade in Lithuania, on March 28, 2025. Petras Malukas / AFP / Getty

In a statement published on Friday, the US military said that the Hulking armored vehicle 70 tonnes of 70 tonnes that the missing American soldiers were operating “was found at around 15 feet under a body of water and mud in a swampy area” linked to a neighboring lake.

“The area around the site is incredibly humid and marshy and does not support the weight of the equipment,” the Office of Public Affairs of the US Army and Africa said on Friday in a statement. “The emptying of the area was slow and difficult due to the oozing of the groundwater,” he said.

“It will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers back home,” said Curtis Taylor, general commander of the 1st armored division.

The American ambassador to Lithuania Kara C. McDonald and the members of the American army service are held near a armored vehicle Hercules M88, on the site of a rescue operation in Pabrade Training Ground in Lithuania, where another M88 and its crew of four American retirees disappeared three days earlier, March 28, 2025. Janis Laisans / US reuters

The main objective on Friday was to withdraw the mud from the submerged vehicle and identify the possible fixing points for extraction, said the head of the Lithuanian armed forces, Raimundas Vaiksnoras.

“We work and will continue to work until we can give clear and honest answers to those who need to know the most – family members,” said Vaiksnoras on Facebook on Friday.

Lithuania, a member of NATO and the EU, welcomes more than 1,000 American soldiers stationed on a rotation basis.

The US army command of Europe said in its declaration that a “high-capacity suspension pump, cranes, more than 30 tonnes of gravel and experts in the body of American army engineers are only some of the assets that have arrived on site to help access the M88.

Yasin Deirci / Anadolu / Getty

The Polish armed forces also volunteered a military engineering unit, which heads for the site. “”

“We greatly appreciate the visit of the Lithuanian president today and the exceptional support that we continue to receive from the Lithuanian army,” said Taylor of the 1st armored division. “It will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers back to home. I remain incredibly impressed by discipline, commitment and camaraderie in this unit as they try to recover their missing comrades.”

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