US TROOPS MISSING IN LITHUANIA

[LadyTevar]

4 US Soldiers Missing for Two Days During NATO Drills

The Lithuanian army says it is searching for four US soldiers missing for two days during drills in the Baltic state amid reports they had died.

The four soldiers and their tracked vehicle had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon near the border with Belarus, the military said earlier. The US Army said the vehicle had been found submerged in water.

The Lithuanian army said on X that a "rescue operation is intensively ongoing", and there was no evidence "confirming the death of the troops".

Nato chief Mark Rutte had earlier said he had been informed of their deaths, but added that he did not have further details.

Lithuanian and foreign troops, helicopters and state border guards have been deployed to search for the missing soldiers.

The soldiers had been training near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania with other Nato forces.

US Army Europe and Africa's public affairs office confirmed in its statement that the soldiers "were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident".

They added the soldiers were part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

Lithuanian authorities received a report about the soldiers' disappearance on Tuesday afternoon.

"A possible scene has now been identified," the Lithuanian military said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.

"People (are) working round the clock. Everybody remains on standby, ready to provide emergency medical support," Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on X.

Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, hosts more than 1,000 American troops, who are stationed on a rotational basis.

"I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian armed forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations," said Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, the V Corps commanding general.

[LadyTevar]

So. Did they cross the border, accidently or otherwise, or did Belarussian troops cross and grab them?

[Zaune]

If the vehicle was found submerged, I'd say there's a good chance it was a simple accident. Maybe they took the wrong road and tried to go over a bridge that couldn't take the weight of their vehicle or something.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah it could case of "got lost during a drill and got into a fatal accident, so provocation by Belarus is needed and shouldn't be assumed until we know more.

[LadyTevar]

Bodies of 3 US Soldiers Found

The bodies of three US soldiers, missing for six days, have been found in a muddy swamp near the Lithuanian city of Pabradė, where they were taking part in military drills, the US Army has confirmed.

Rescue teams are still searching for a fourth soldier.

It doesn't say if they were with their vehicle, but the article does say the vehicle was stuck deep:

The four soldiers went missing on the morning of 25 March while carrying out an exercise in their M88A2 Hercules - a large armoured vehicle that is designed to recover damaged tanks and other vehicles from battlefields.
They were "conducting a mission to repair and tow an immobilised tactical vehicle" when they went missing, the statement said.

The soldiers' vehicle was found submerged in a bog near the border with Belarus early on 26 March. Pulling it out of the mud was a difficult mission.

US Navy divers were brought in to hook cables onto the sunken vehicle, and had to manoeuvre "through thick layers of mud, clay, and sediment with zero visibility", the statement said.
Those cables were then connected to another two M88A2 Hercules, which also started to slide into the bog, leading to several bulldozers being called on.

Other heavy construction equipment including excavators and sluice and slurry pumps were brought in, as well as technical experts and "several hundred tons of gravel and earth", the US Army said.