Lithuanian authorities have recovered the armored vehicle belonging to four missing US soldiers who disappeared during a routine training exercise last week, the country's defense minister confirmed on Monday. "Six days of hard work have yielded results. The armored vehicle has been recovered," Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said in a statement on Facebook. The vehicle was found submerged in a swamp in Pabrade, northeast of the capital Vilnius, where the soldiers were last seen. Despite the vehicle's recovery, there has been no official update on the status of the missing soldiers. Lithuanian military police and US investigators continue to examine the scene. Sakaliene urged the public to exercise "patience" and respect the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation. "Let us understand the delicacy of the situation and the sensitivity of the soldiers' families," she said. The US Army Europe and Africa confirmed that a multinational search effort remains underway, with US and Lithuanian forces leading the recovery operation. The vehicle was first located last Wednesday, but its extraction proved challenging. "Not only are we dealing with the terrain, a lot of mud that is over top of the vehicle, but also the fact that it's 70 tons that we're trying to recover out of a swamp or bog," Brig. Gen. John Lloyd said on Sunday. US forces regularly participate in NATO training exercises in Lithuania, a key eastern flank member of the alliance. — Agencies
