Search ‘ongoing’ for 4 American soldiers missing from training area in Lithuania: NATO
Search efforts remain underway for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania, leaving behind a sunken military vehicle, a NATO spokesperson clarified Wednesday, despite earlier claims that they were deceased.
NATO said the search is “ongoing” and that the fate of the missing “is still unknown,” according to a statement posted on X.
“This is still early news so we do not know the details,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Warsaw. “This is really terrible news and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones.”
Few details surrounding the incident were immediately provided by U.S. officials.
A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident, The Associated Press reported. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers.
The soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training near Pabradė, a town north of the capital Vilnius, when they went missing, U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany, said in a statement.
The missing M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle carrying the four soldiers was later found in a body of water in a training area during a search by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces and other Lithuanian authorities.
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The soldiers, all from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division — a unit stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia, went missing during the scheduled tactical training, according to the statement.
Recovery efforts are underway by U.S. Army and Lithuanian Armed Forces and civilian agencies.
Search efforts for the soldiers continue, and the 3rd Infantry Division is keeping the soliders’ families informed on the status of search efforts.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our Raider Brigade Soldiers and Families during the search for our four missing Dogface Soldiers in Lithuania,” the division wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Further updates about the search for the missing soldiers would be provided as information becomes available, the U.S. military said.
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The training ground in Pabradė is located less than 6 miles from the border with Belarus.
“I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian Armed Forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations,” Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, the V Corps commanding general, said in a written statement. “It’s this kind of teamwork and support that exemplifies the importance of our partnership and our humanity regardless of what flags we wear on our shoulders.”
Lithuania, a member of NATO, has often had tense relations with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. Latvia and Estonia, the other Baltic countries that broke away from the Soviet Union, have had similarly chilly ties with Russia.
Relations soured further over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Ukraine in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Fort Stewart did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.