Lithuania’s capital will host a special church service on Sunday to pray for the U.S. soldiers who went missing at a military training site earlier this week.
Multinational efforts to find the four Americans are ongoing, with operations focused on recovering an armored vehicle submerged in a swamp. It is not known whether the soldiers are inside.
Speaking to Fox News, Lithuanian defense minister Dovilė Šakalienė said the “joint prayer” would be held in Vilnius Cathedral at 12.30 p.m.
“This is very important for us, because we are a very Catholic country,” told the conservative channel, according to public broadcaster LRT.
“So we will have a special mass for the missing soldiers in our main church, Vilnius Cathedral, hoping for the best.”
Recovery efforts at the Pabradė training ground, located in the country’s east, have been ongoing for days, and involve engineers, emergency crews and military personnel from Lithuania, the U.S. and Poland.
The U.S. Army said on Saturday the forces are currently looking to remove water and mud from the boggy terrain where the M88 Hercules armored vehicle was spotted on Wednesday.
The site is being prepared to support heavy equipment and being readied for further diving missions, with American divers and engineers having landed in the country over the last two days.
“We've touched base with the Lithuanian divers who have gone in already. We have a good site picture from them and the other boots on the ground,” the U.S. Navy’s Senior Chief Master Diver Carlos Hernandez said.
“We're going to start off by putting our Defender [submersible remotely operated vehicle] in the water to paint a clear picture of what we can expect down there, as well as our Artemis Handheld Sonar.”
The U.S. Army added that 55 Polish engineers and recovery experts, backed by a number of heavy vehicles, had arrived in Lithuania and were on standby.
“I remain awestruck at the dedication and determination of our Lithuanian partners to help us find our missing soldiers,” Major General Curtis Taylor said.
“We are going to use every resource available from all our countries to find our missing soldiers. We are stronger together as a joint and multinational team and we will not rest until our soldiers are found.”
Speaking to Fox News, Lithuanian defense minister Dovilė Šakalienė said the “joint prayer” would be held in Vilnius Cathedral at 12.30 p.m.
“This is very important for us, because we are a very Catholic country,” told the conservative channel, according to public broadcaster LRT.
“So we will have a special mass for the missing soldiers in our main church, Vilnius Cathedral, hoping for the best.”
Recovery efforts at the Pabradė training ground, located in the country’s east, have been ongoing for days, and involve engineers, emergency crews and military personnel from Lithuania, the U.S. and Poland.
The U.S. Army said on Saturday the forces are currently looking to remove water and mud from the boggy terrain where the M88 Hercules armored vehicle was spotted on Wednesday.
The site is being prepared to support heavy equipment and being readied for further diving missions, with American divers and engineers having landed in the country over the last two days.
“We've touched base with the Lithuanian divers who have gone in already. We have a good site picture from them and the other boots on the ground,” the U.S. Navy’s Senior Chief Master Diver Carlos Hernandez said.
“We're going to start off by putting our Defender [submersible remotely operated vehicle] in the water to paint a clear picture of what we can expect down there, as well as our Artemis Handheld Sonar.”
The U.S. Army added that 55 Polish engineers and recovery experts, backed by a number of heavy vehicles, had arrived in Lithuania and were on standby.
“I remain awestruck at the dedication and determination of our Lithuanian partners to help us find our missing soldiers,” Major General Curtis Taylor said.
“We are going to use every resource available from all our countries to find our missing soldiers. We are stronger together as a joint and multinational team and we will not rest until our soldiers are found.”
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