The body of a fourth soldier of the American army was found on Tuesday in Lithuania, a week after the soldier and three others were reported dispersed when the armored vehicle in which they were riding on a swamp, the US military said.
The army did not immediately release the name of the fourth soldier, whose body was found a day after the other three soldiers were found dead following a large international research effort that involved hundreds of staff from Lithuania, the United States, Poland and Estonia.
The four US soldiers, of the first combat team of the armored brigade, the 3rd infantry division, were reported missing at the beginning of March 25, when they did not return from a training mission in a Hercules M88a2, a 70 -ton vehicle that is essentially a gigantic military truck.
They had been sent to extract another army vehicle, the military said. But the soldiers may have moved away from the street and in a deep swamp, and seemed to have been trapped inside while the vehicle sank, according to an army official in Europe. The American army is investigating the cause of the accident.
Rescue located the vehicle on March 26, but extracting from the mud turned out to be a discouraging engineering challenge. The heavy equipment were introduced to drag the swamp and the divers, the dogs and drones to which one equipped with radar hanging in the ground-land were lined up in the recovery effort.
The American army did not announce where the body of the fourth soldier had been found, although a high American army official in Europe declared that he had been recovered near the M88. The soldiers had trained near Pabrade, a city in Eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus.
The army identified the three soldiers whose bodies were found on Monday as Sgt. Jose Duenez, Jr., 25 years old, from Joliet, ill.; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25 years old, from Glendale, California; and pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21 years old, from Dededo, Guam. All three were maintainers from the M1 Abrams tank system.
“This loss is simply devastating,” he said in a note in a note. “These men were honored soldiers of the Marne Division. We are wrapping the arms around the families and loved ones of our soldiers during an incredibly difficult period.”
Sergeant Duenez had been in the army for more than seven years and had previously served in Poland and Germany. Sergeant Franco had served in the army for over six years and had previously lined up in Korea and Germany. The private Taitano had served in the army for almost two years and had arrived in Fort Stewart in Georgia, the house of the third infantry division, in October 2023.
The American military leaders praised the Lithuanians and others who contributed to looking for soldiers.
“I can only praise the support that our Lithuanian allies have provided us with,” General Christopher Donahue, commander of Europe and Africa of the United States, said in a note. “We bent over and them, next to our Poles and Estonian allies – and our sailors, aviators and experts of the engineers’ body – have allowed us to find and bring home our soldiers.”
Lithuanian leaders underlined the international recovery effort to underline the value of NATO allies who work together in a growing alarm in Lithuania and in other Baltic countries that President Trump will weaken the NATO alliance.
On Tuesday, President Gitanas Nausea of Lithuania, who had visited the accident site, said that the “sincere condolences of the country go to our US allies and their people”.
“Lithuania prayed for all four disappeared soldiers and now, with all our hearts, we are with their families,” he said on social media. “We are deeply grateful to all those who have dedicated immense efforts to find the soldier who has still been dispersed in such difficult conditions”.
Eric Schmitt Contributed relationships.