Lithuanian President hopes for 'miracle' to find missing US soldiers
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The Lithuanian army first announced on Tuesday that it was looking for the four soldiers who went missing during regular tactical training.
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Recovery efforts continue for four missing U.S. soldiers near the spot where their Hercules armored vehicle was found submerged at a training range in Pabrade, north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, on Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP)
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda expressed hope for "a miracle" on Friday as he visited the site of an ongoing rescue operation to recover the submerged vehicle of the four missing US soldiers.
"I am still hoping for a miracle," the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda said, adding, "Although many sceptics would probably say that there is nothing to hope for in these circumstances, I want to believe." Local and international troops have been mobilized to aid in the search efforts.
The Lithuanian Army released a statement later announcing that they are making progress in transforming the swamp into water suitable for diver search-and-rescue teams to go and look for the US soldiers who disappeared during a military drill in Pabrade.
The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle that the missing US soldiers had been operating was discovered several meters deep in a swamp that was connected to a nearby lake, an area US Army Europe and Africa's public affairs office described as "incredibly wet and marshy" and too unstable to support the weight of the equipment.
"Draining the area has been slow and difficult due to ground water seepage," the US Army's Europe and Africa public affairs office added.
NATO says four US soldiers killed in Lithuania
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had earlier announced that the four US soldiers who went missing were "killed during training," and while he did not divulge any details, the news of the deaths "in an incident" came up as he spoke to reporters on March 26.
The Lithuanian army announced that they were searching for four US servicemen and a tracked vehicle that went missing on March 25 in the afternoon.
According to a statement issued by the US Army's Europe and Africa Public Affairs Office in Wiesbaden, Germany, the soldiers had been performing regular tactical training at the time, while the Lithuanian military stated that a possible scene had been identified and a search and rescue operation was underway.
According to LRT, four US troops and a vehicle went missing during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training site in Pabradė, a town near the Belarusian border, during which the incident occurred.
Lithuania is a member of NATO and the European Union, and it hosts more than 1,000 United States soldiers on a rotational basis.
