Tragedy in Lithuania: Three US soldiers found dead after exercises
The American army has revealed the names of three soldiers who died in Lithuania and published their photos. It turns out that the youngest of them was just 21 years old.
In Lithuania, the bodies of four American soldiers from the 1st Armoured Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, missing since 25 March, were found. They disappeared in the early hours of 25 March during a technical operation aimed at retrieving another vehicle in the region where the exercises were conducted.
Three of these soldiers were found on 31 March, while the fourth was found a day later, on 1 April. The American army stated that they would release their information to the public only after the families of the deceased had been notified.
During the night, the 1st Armored Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, revealed on their Facebook profile the details of three soldiers whose bodies were found in Lithuania. These are 25-year-old Sergeant Jose Duenez from Illinois, 25-year-old Sgt. Edvin F. Franco from California, and 21-year-old Specialist Dante D. Taitano from Guam.
The identity of the fourth soldier has not yet been revealed.
The dramatic search operation lasted seven days
The four soldiers went missing on 25 March during tactical exercises, as the crew of the M88 Hercules recovery vehicle.
The vehicle was found submerged in a muddy water reservoir on the training ground in Pabradė, near the Belarusian border. The operation to extract the vehicle from the bog concluded early on Monday morning. The vehicle was located about 4 metres below the water's surface and under approximately 2 metres of mud.
The circumstances of the incident and the cause of the soldiers' deaths are under investigation.
