Remains of the fourth US soldier killed during a training exercise in Lithuania last week have been recovered, according to officials.
The still-unidentified soldier’s body was found near the Pabradė — not far from the Belarus border — after a weeklong operation that combed through thick forest and swampland, the US Army announced Tuesday.
The soldier’s body was recovered a day after the remains of the three others were recovered when the armored car they were riding in was found submerged in a peat bog.
They were a part of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and vanished on March 25 during a training operation.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, according to US Army officials.
“This past week has been devastating. Today our hearts bear the weight of an unbearable pain with the loss of our final Dogface Soldier,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, who leads the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement.
“Though we have received some closure, the world is darker without them.”
The incident comes as tensions have been rising between Lithuania – a NATO member – and the staunch allies Belarus and Russia.
Just two weeks ago, Lithuania announced it was laying mines along its borders with Belarus over fears that Russia could expand its offensives in Ukraine with an incursion into NATO territory.
Nearby Poland has also begun building similar defenses.
There has been no indication, however, that the American deaths had anything to do with those tensions.
The US troops were training in an M88A2 Armored-Recovery Vehicle, a 63-ton machine equipped with a crane used to extricate other armored vehicles.
American troops have been training in the Baltic border region to practice operations in its swampy, heavily forested terrain.
There are about 16,000 US troops currently deployed in the area, with 14,000 in Poland, 1,000 in Lithuania, and 700 in Estonia.
