(PABRADĖ, Lithuania) — The U.S. Army vehicle that was carrying four soldiers when it went missing near Pabradė, Lithuania, has been pulled from a swamp after six days of “relentless effort” to retrieve it, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense said Monday.
The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle was salvaged Sunday night and the work at the site is ongoing, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense said.
No updates about the whereabouts or conditions of the missing soldiers were provided.
The soldiers, who are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, went missing on Tuesday during a training exercise, the Army said.
On Wednesday, their 70-ton vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and “clay-like mud” in a training area, the Army said.
“Most likely, the M88 drove into the swamp,” and the vehicle “may have just gone diagonally to the bottom,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News via phone last week.
The multiday search effort has been complicated by the swamp’s muddy conditions, officials said.
The Army said last week it brought in assets including “a large capacity slurry pump, cranes, more than 30 tons of gravel, and subject matter experts.”
“The Polish Armed Forces have also volunteered a unit of military engineers, which is bringing in an additional water pump, tracked recovery vehicles, other additional equipment and supplies needed along with 150 personnel,” the Army said.
On Saturday, a U.S. Navy dive team arrived at the site, joining Lithuanian divers, the Army said.
“We are going to use every resource available from all our countries to find our missing soldiers,” Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, 1st Armored Division commanding general, said in a statement Saturday.
The soldiers’ families are being kept up to date on recovery efforts, the Army said.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.