---
title: "Rescuers dig for missing US soldiers' vehicle in Lithuania"
description: "VILNIUS, March 27 (Reuters) - Rescuers in Lithuania were digging on Thursday into a peat bog in a military training area to recover the vehicle of four US soldiers missing for two days."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Missing soldiers"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-27-rescuers-dig-for-missing-us-soldiers-vehicle-in-lithuania/"
published: "2025-03-27T12:42:49"
updated: "2025-03-27T12:42:51"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 189
---

# Rescuers dig for missing US soldiers' vehicle in Lithuania

> VILNIUS, March 27 (Reuters) - Rescuers in Lithuania were digging on Thursday into a peat bog in a military training area to recover the vehicle of four US soldiers missing for two days.

By Reuters · Published 27 March 2025, 14:42 SAST · Updated 27 March 2025, 14:42 SAST

## Key points
- In a dramatic twist worthy of a military thriller, Lithuanian and US forces are knee-deep in a swampy search for a submerged Hercules armoured vehicle, proving once again that friendship is about digging deep—literally and figuratively.
- Lithuanian soldiers in an M88 Hercules vehicle went missing during an exercise near the Belarus border, prompting a major recovery operation.
- Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene confirmed the vehicle was located over 5 meters deep in a swamp, with efforts underway to excavate it.
- Hundreds of Lithuanian and US troops are collaborating on the search, emphasizing solidarity in the face of adversity.
- US Ambassador Kara McDonald praised Lithuania as a model ally, reaffirming commitment to locate the missing soldiers.

## Content

The soldiers in the M88 Hercules armoured recovery vehicle were on an exercise at the Pabrade training ground near the Belarus border where US units have been rotating since 2019.

Their vehicle was located on Wednesday at more than 5 metres down and enough water had now been drained from the swamp to begin digging for it, Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene told reporters on Thursday morning after surveying the site.

Hundreds of Lithuanian and US soldiers with dozens of vehicles were working at the site and surveying nearby woodland in hope of finding the soldiers. "To us, their soldiers are like our soldiers," said army head Raimundas Vaiksnoras said.

US ambassador Kara McDonald thanked Lithuania for the help, calling it a model ally. "As our secretary of defence said, we will not rest until our troops are found", she added at the site, saying recovery of the vehicle was difficult.

Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Kestutis Budrys told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington earlier this week that his country was ready to host more US troops.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)