Vilnius, Lithuania —- A US armored vehicle. It disappeared in Lithuania He has recovered from a swamp after a six -day search, but there is still no information on the fate of the four American soldiers on board, Lithuanian officials said Monday.
“The armored vehicle was taken to 4:40 am, the trailer operation is complete, the Lithuanian Military Police and US researchers continue their work,” said Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė on Monday morning in a Facebook post.
The soldiers were in a training exercise in the huge general training field Silvestras žukauskas in the city of Pabradė when they and their vehicle were reported as missing in the early hours of Tuesday morning, said the United States army.
“Until the researchers have more details, we need to keep calm and concentration, and take into account the sensitivity of the situation and concerns of the families of the soldiers,” Šakalien published on Facebook.
She made journalists clear that the first information about the fate of soldiers will be delivered by the United States Army.
The soldiers, all of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were performing tactical training when they disappeared.
Hundreds of Lithuanian and American soldiers and rescuers Participated in the search Through the thick forests and the swampy terrain around Pabradė, which is only 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of the border with Belarus. The M88 Hercules armored vehicle was discovered in Wedneday submerged in 4.5 meters (15 feet) of water.
A large -scale recovery operation was launched, but “the water, the thick mud and the soft land around the site have complicated recovery efforts and have required specialized equipment to drain the water from the side and stabilize the ground” to extract the land of the 70 -ton vehicle, the army said.
