The American marine divers have successfully tied two lines to lift points on the Hirulia vehicle vehicle in the Heraclius vehicle, which was carrying four American army soldiers who disappeared early on Tuesday during a training exercise near Babadi, Lithuania.
The soldiers, their headquarters in Fort Stewart in Georgia, were riding the car on a scheduled maintenance mission to restore another American army vehicle in the training area when they disappeared.
After the second line was attached to the crane point on Hercules on Sunday, the army said that the car could be installed to prevent it from drowning in the swamp.
The US military in Europe and Africa said in a post on X.
“The operation is expected to take a great deal of time and effort, as the terrain surrounding the swamp of peat remains difficult – but rescue workers will not be deterred.”
Earlier in the day, the divers restricted the first line to the raising point on Hercules, although it was expected that the lifting efforts would take longer than expected with the attachment of both lines due to the amount of pressure and suction from the mud.
The US military operations told Europe and Africa in a press statement that Hercules continued to drown in the swamp.
The car was estimated at about four meters below the water and covered about two meters of clay.
To help drilling and pumping, it was expected that a quick interface available for the loading system (railway) was expected to reach the scene later in the day.
The railway system is traditionally used to help empty the rail and Onload networks in difficult terrain, although engineers believe it can help install the ground around the recovery location.
“It is very complicated in an attempt to reach the car itself with the terrain here and where the M88 sits in a swamp -like area, below the water line. So not only we deal with the terrain, and a lot of mud that exceeds the car, but also the fact that 70 tons we try to recover from a group or sweat.” Gen. John Lloyd, commander of the Corps of Engineers in the Northern American Army, said.
In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday afternoon, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė šakalienė said from the moment when the country learned of the incident, “It has given everything”, from both the institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to find the soldiers.
“One of the helicopters with thermal vision to the forces on the ground, we continue to continue,” said šakalien.
Šakalienė said that it is not known whether the soldiers could have escaped from the car before it sank, but they repeated that there was no “evidence” confirming the death of the missing soldiers until Thursday afternoon.
The area around the site is a forest area with swamps and swamps, similar to the environment in Alaska. The weather conditions are also similar, making it a difficult training zone for army personnel.
“They may have been lost, bewildered, hurt, or in the event of a decrease in heat, and we have not yet found them,” said šakalien. “But we do not lose hope until the last minute. These are strong soldiers, strong men, grow. All scenarios are possible.”
Lithuania, a member of NATO, added that the American soldiers consider their property and will not leave them behind.
Despite the ongoing efforts, the soldiers were not yet present.
The third pedestrian department in the US Army is to maintain the update of solid families to search.
“This tragic situation weighs greatly to all of us, and we maintain families, friends and teammates in our team and the recovery team in our ideas and prayers,” wrote the American Miguor Cortis Taylor, the commander -in -chief of the first armored division, in a statement last week. “We want everyone to know that we will not stop until our soldiers are found.”
President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had not been informed of the missing soldiers.
The training site is less than 6 miles from Bearus, a Russian ally since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.
Lithuania, a Catholic state, organized a joint prayer on Sunday in its main church, the Capital Cathedral, and hosted a mass of missing soldiers.
Alexandra Koch and Landon Mayon from Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
