A fourth US Army soldier was found dead in Lithuania on Tuesday after he and three fellow soldiers disappeared during a training exercise at the Pabrade training range last week.
The US Army confirmed the deaths of all four soldiers. US Army Europe and Africa Command said in a statement that the fourth soldier was found dead on the afternoon of April 1 near the range.
The first three soldiers were found dead on March 31, but the fourth was reported missing. Their M88 Hercules armoured recovery vehicle was found earlier, it was only recovered from the swamp on the sixth day of the search.
The US Army has not yet revealed the identity of the fourth casualty, while the three previously found military personnel are reported to be two 25-year-old sergeants and a 21-year-old private, who were specialists in the maintenance of the M1 Abrams tank system.
Remigijus Baltrenas, the head of Lithuania’s defence staff, said the fourth soldier was found near where the armoured vehicle was found earlier. He could not answer the question of how the fourth soldier could have fallen out of the vehicle. According to him, only the US investigation will give an answer.
Lithuania will hold a farewell ceremony for the dead US soldiers and send their bodies to the US on April 3.
Four US soldiers and a tracked armoured vehicle went missing in Lithuania a week ago in the early morning hours of March 25. The Lithuanian Army reported it on March 26, when the search had already been underway for 24 hours.
The M88 Hercules tracked armoured vehicle was found in a swamp and was only recovered from the mire on 31 March. Three of the four missing soldiers were later found dead.
