The four American troops who went missing during an exercise at the Pabrade training area in Lithuania on March 25 are dead, and their vehicle has been found in a swamp, TV3.lt and lrytas.lt news websites reported on the late afternoon of March 26, adding, however, that official sources have not yet confirmed this.

Edvard Valujevic, sub-elder of a sub-elderate in the Pabrade eldership, told bne IntelliNews that the locals and he himself are ‘struck and devastated’ by the immensity of the tragedy.

“Frankly, although the training area is part of our eldership, we hardly receive any information from it. However, the local people started talking yesterday about a tragedy involving foreign troops. It is horrible to hear news of the deaths," he said.

The Pabrade training area (poligonas) is one of Lithuania’s largest military training grounds, located near the town of Pabrade in Svencionys District, eastern Lithuania. It is used by the Lithuanian Armed Forces and Nato allied troops for military exercises.

The area encompassed roughly 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres), making it a major training site for land and mechanised forces and hosts various military exercises, including live-fire drills, mechanised manoeuvres and joint training with Nato allies.

Located close to Belarus, making it a key location for Nato's regional defence strategies.

On the afternoon of March 25, the Lithuanian Armed Forces announced that four US soldiers had gone missing during a military exercise in eastern Lithuania, LRT.lt and BNS, a Lithuanian news agency, reported previously.