Tragedy in Pabradė: Search ongoing for missing soldier
This is not the end of the tragic events at the Lithuanian training ground in Pabradė. The body of the last victim of the accident is most likely resting in a layer of silt near the site where the M88 Hercules armoured vehicle sank, experts agree. Despite the involvement of divers and soldiers, there are difficulties in locating it.
— If the Hercules drove into the bog at a high speed, a crew member might have been thrown out. Alternatively, he might have tried to escape the vehicle. Operating in cold water, in a dense environment, borders on impossibility. As the vehicle sank, a depression formed. Layers of mud closed over the soldier, and that is where he remained — Maciej Rokus, the head of the Polish Special Rescue and Diving Group, told WP. The group has participated in many rescue and search operations.
Meanwhile, at the training ground in Pabradė, Lithuanian and American services reported that the bodies of three soldiers were found after the wreck was retrieved. The search for the fourth crew member will continue until successful.
— It's a difficult and labour-intensive task, but we should be able to locate the fourth victim. We are considering sending our team to Lithuania to participate in the search —Maciej Rokus declared in a conversation with WP.
Drama at the training ground. Will it be possible to find the last soldier?
Maciej Rokus described what he believes is the most likely hypothesis about what happened to the last unaccounted-for victim. He believes the soldier remained in the bog, where the front of the vehicle was. Over the weekend, participants in the search operation in Lithuania assumed that if the crew was trying to save themselves, the soldiers' bodies might have been near the sunken machine. This version was presented on Monday evening by Gen. Remigijus Baltrėnas, Chief of Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
— It is very difficult to talk about this in detail, but perhaps the water and mud pressure with which the armoured vehicle submerged in the water could have ejected the soldier from the vehicle itself — explained Gen. Baltrėnas to the media.
The general added that the site where the armoured vehicle sank was divided into sectors, which are being methodically searched. Polish engineers joined the search for the missing soldier, Lithuanian media reported. This refers to sappers from the unit in Orzysz, who had previously gone to the scene to offer assistance.
The search also involved two units of the Estonian police with service dogs, as well as an amphibious excavator with a rake, which is searching through the layers of mud. General Baltrėnas reported that the work is being carried out with the help of divers, sonars, and a drone.
Tragedy in Lithuania. How did the soldiers' accident occur?
It was earlier confirmed that the soldiers served in the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division. On Tuesday, 25th March, they set out with the M88 Hercules to evacuate another American vehicle that had broken down during military exercises. The crew sent for the task was declared missing.
Later, evidence was discovered showing that their 63-tonne vehicle drove into the bog and sank. The site is described as a trap: beneath the layer of grass and vegetation lies a 12-metre-deep marsh.
Lithuanian and American soldiers, along with Polish sappers from Orzysz (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), participated in the rescue and search operation. There was no progress for several days. The search operation at the Lithuanian training ground will go down in history: to retrieve the sunken vehicle, divers had to submerge in black, opaque water, working blindly, in complete darkness.
A breakthrough occurred on Sunday when American divers managed to attach the first line to the vehicle. The operation continued, and the vehicle was retrieved on Monday at dawn.
