Lithuania’s military said four US soldiers and a tracked vehicle had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has announced that four missing United States Army soldiers have died in Lithuania during training.
Rutte, who told reporters of the deaths of the four on Wednesday, said they were killed in an “incident”, adding that he did not know further details.
“This is still early news, so we do not know the details. This is really terrible news and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones,” Rutte said in the Polish capital, Warsaw.
Lithuania’s military had said earlier that a search was under way for the four US soldiers and a tracked vehicle which had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon.
According to a statement by the US Army, the soldiers had been training near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus.
“The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident,” the statement read.
