Military individuals are working on a rescue site for missing American soldiers on training land in Babrad, in Lithuania, on Friday.
Petras Malukas/AFP via Gettty Imagesages
Hide the explanatory name
Switch the explanatory name
Petras Malukas/AFP via Gettty Imagesages
Dozens of soldiers and rescue workers are heading to Lithuania to help with the recovery efforts made by four American army soldiers who were overwhelmed by their car in a quagmire for more than five days.
The death of the soldiers, all of whom are part of the first brigade, the third infantry department, based in Fort Stewart in Georgia, in the early hours of March 25 while training a task To restore another army vehicle.
The accident occurred in a training area near Babradi, a city in East Lithuania near the borders of Belarus. The car that carries the four soldiers was discovered the next day, buried under a thick layer of clay and water.
Recovery efforts have been completed due to the muddy Swampland and the huge weight of 70 tons of Hercules armored M88 M88.
American soldiers are attending a sacred mass at the Cathedral of Bazilica in Velnes, Lithuania, on Sunday, for the four American soldiers who lost.
Mindaugas Kulbis/AP
Hide the explanatory name
Switch the explanatory name
Mindaugas Kulbis/AP
in to updateThe army said that the car continued to drown in the swamp and was about 13 feet below the surface Mud.
“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,” Brig. General John Lloyd, commander of the Engineers of the Northern American Army, said in a statement on Sunday.
He added: “Therefore, we are not only dealing with terrain, and a lot of mud that exceeds the car, but also the fact that 70 tons are trying to recover from a swamp or swamp.”
On Saturday, the specialized American marine diving team, which arrived at the site and divided the initial diving on Saturday, faced a difficult time to move in the swamp. “Last night, the divers in the water were trying to reach the car. We were unable to do so because of the amount of clay,” Lloyd said.
But on Sunday, the US military said that the diving team managed to successfully attach a line with one lifting point on the submerged car. The goal is to link a series of cranes to pull the car from the mud.
The US military in Europe and Africa said in a statement. “We expect this process to take some time, as the amount of pressure and suction from the mud will take great strength to overcome it.”
Military individuals are working on a rescue site for missing American soldiers on training land in Babrad, in Lithuania, on Friday.
Petras Malukas/AFP via Gettty Imagesages
Hide the explanatory name
Switch the explanatory name
Petras Malukas/AFP via Gettty Imagesages
During the past week, rescue crews remove water and clay from the site using many drainage, drilling and bulldozing techniques. The army said that the operation was slow and difficult right To “groundwater leakage”. The terrain was unable to support the heavy equipment required to extract the car.
More than 200 employees participated in the recovery efforts, including American soldiers, Leitanon, Lithuanian authorities, and 55 engineers of the Polish armed forces, according to the American army.
The families of the four missing soldiers have been notified and said the US military has been continuing to update families about the status of research efforts.
“This tragic situation weighs greatly to all of us,” Major General Cortis Taylor, the commander -in -chief of the first armored division, said last week in a statement. “We want everyone to know, we will not stop until our soldiers are found.”
Lithuanian defense officials prayed for the recovery efforts in a sacred mass on Sunday, according to The Ministry of Defense in the country.
“The shoulder to the shoulder, stand together until we find the missing soldiers,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dukalienė He said on social media Sunday.