Lithuania's minister of defense, Dovile Sakaliene said the search for four US Army soldiers who went missing during a scheduled training exercise near PabradÄ—, Lithuania, has shifted from rescue to recovery mission.
DAILY POST reports that the soldiers, who are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, went missing on Tuesday.
According to the Army, the M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the soldiers were operating at the time was found submerged in water in a training area on Wednesday.
“Most likely, the M88 drove into the swamp. It has the capacity to swallow large objects. This vehicle, weighing up to 70 tons, may have just gone diagonally to the bottom,”; Sakaliene said.
Sakaliene further said that the vehicle may be 5 meters below the surface.
She said that crews were pushing through a mix of muddy water and sludge amid the complicated recovery.
According to her, hundreds of people including American armed forces, Lithuanian rescue services and private companies were working around the clock to recover the soldiers.
“We have helicopters in the air, divers, firefighters, canal excavation machines — hundreds and hundreds of people. Our Army divers are there, but even they are struggling.
“We’ve narrowed the location down but we still have to keep digging. We brought a huge, long-range excavation machine and a canal cleaner to move the mud and water. Then we have to hook the vehicle, drag it out and see if there are bodies or materials inside,”; she said.
Sakaliene said the Lithuanians will remain dedicated to the recovery.
