"Hundreds of Lithuanian and U.S. soldiers and rescuers took part in the search through the thick forests and swampy terrain around Pabradė, 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of the border with Belarus. The 63-ton (126,000-pound) armored vehicle was discovered March 26 submerged in 15 feet (4.5 meters) of water, but it took days to pull it out of the bog.


Lithuanian armed forces provided military helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial systems and search and rescue personnel. They brought in additional excavators, sluice and slurry pumps, other heavy construction equipment, technical experts and several hundred tons of gravel and earth to help the recovery.

Navy divers maneuvered through thick layers of mud, clay and sediment with zero visibility to reach the vehicle Sunday evening and attach steel cables so it could be pulled out. When just three of the four bodies were found, the divers began a search of the bog area for the fourth."