Four US soldiers went missing after a tank exercise in Lithuania and three of them have been found dead, according to the US military on Monday. The search for the fourth soldier is still ongoing.
The US military tank, an M88 Hercules, had been stuck in a swampy area near the Pabradė training ground in eastern Lithuania since a week ago. The Lithuanian defense minister, Dovilė Šakalienė, announced on Monday that the tank had been recovered, but initially did not provide information on the fate of the soldiers.
The recovery of the tank, weighing around 70 tons, was a complex operation that involved the use of heavy machinery and took several days to complete. The tank was finally lifted out of the swampy area on Monday morning, with the help of two bulldozers and two heavy-lift vehicles, as well as two ropes attached to the tank by divers on Sunday evening.
The search for the missing soldiers began after the Lithuanian defense minister announced on Tuesday of last week that the four US soldiers had gone missing during a training exercise on the Pabradė training ground, near the border with Belarus. A large-scale search operation was launched, involving the Lithuanian army and international military personnel.