Lithuania, partners make every effort to retrieve US military vehicle - PM

VILNIUS - Lithuania and its foreign partners "are making every possible effort" to retrieve a submerged US military vehicle from a swamp at the Pabrade training area, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said on Friday.

The M88 Hercules tracked recovery vehicle with four US soldiers aboard went missing during an exercise at the military training area in the eastern Svencionys District on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the vehicle was located at a depth of about five meters in the body of water. It is still unclear whether the missing soldiers are inside.

"Everyone is really making every possible effort to recover both the armored vehicle and, likely, the soldiers from this swamp," Paluckas told journalists in the southern town of Alytus.

"Pulling something out of the swamp is extremely difficult from an engineering standpoint for any diver or specialist from any country," he added.

The large-scale rescue operation involves Lithuanian and US troops and Lithuanian authorities. Several dozen Polish troops with equipment are also coming to help.

"First of all, I'm truly grateful to the country's institutions, the Lithuanian Armed Forces' engineering battalion, the Fire and Rescue Department, and the Special Operations Forces, who have the right skills and equipment. But the situation at the training area is complicated because of the swamp," Paluckas said.

The prime minister said he did not know whether any other countries had offered help, as the military is coordinating the efforts.

"Both Poland and the US have offered (assistance) directly, but whether other countries have reached out with support, that's something the Lithuanian military could probably comment on," he said.