4 American soldiers missing from training area in Lithuania found dead, NATO leader says

Four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday.

Rutte said he received word of the deaths of the four soldiers while traveling to Warsaw and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.

“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 told reporters in Warsaw.

Few details surrounding the incident were immediately provided by U.S. officials. A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident, The Associated Press reported. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers.

The soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training near Pabradė, a town north of the capital Vilnius, when they went missing, U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany, said in a statement.

It was unclear when the soldiers, all from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, went missing.

Further updates about the search for the missing soldiers would be provided as information becomes available, the U.S. military said.