The United States Army has said a vehicle used by four of its soldiers that went missing in Lithuania has been found submerged in water as search efforts for the missing troops continue.

In a statement on Wednesday, the army said “The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the four missing US Soldiers were operating during a training exercise has been located in Lithuania”.

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The army’s comments come after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told a press conference in Warsaw, Poland that the four soldiers had died in an “incident”.

“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.

Lithuania’s military had said earlier that a search was under way for the four US soldiers and a tracked vehicle that had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon.

The military wrote on X later that it was continuing an “intensive” rescue operation without confirming the deaths of the US personnel.

According to a statement by the US Army, the soldiers had been training near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus.

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“The soldiers, all from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time of the incident,” the army’s statement read.