US and Lithuanian forces struggle to drain swamp to recover 4 soldiers in submerged armored vehicle

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US and Lithuanian forces struggle to drain swamp to recover 4 soldiers in submerged armored vehicle

2025-03-29 02:08 Last Updated At：02:12

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Lithuanian troops and authorities are struggling to drain a swampy area in Lithuania in an ongoing effort to recover four American Army soldiers who went missing three days ago. The soldiers' armored vehicle was discovered submerged in 15 feet of water and so far teams have been unable to get inside or pull it out.

U.S. Army Europe and Africa said Friday that cranes, a large-capacity pump and more than 30 tons of gravel have been brought in to help drain the water, dig out the mud and pull the M88 Hercules out of the swamp. They warn that this will be a long operation.

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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army Maj. Nikolaj Kalionovand and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, a Lithuanian engineer probes through mud for solid ground with a rod during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, watch as an excavator builds a dam during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water and in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, assemble a water pump during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army Maj. Nikolaj Kalionovand and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Trevor Wilson/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, a Lithuanian engineer probes through mud for solid ground with a rod during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, watch as an excavator builds a dam during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water and in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, discuss their plan to recover four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saundersn/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, along with Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel, assemble a water pump during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Lithuanian Army and emergency services personnel build a makeshift dam from HESCO barrier bags during recovery efforts for four U.S. soldiers in a U.S. Army M88 Hercules submerged under several meters of water in a swamp near a training area near Pabadre, Lithuania, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Saunders/U.S. Army via AP)

In a statement, the Army said that the area around the site is “incredibly wet and marshy and doesn’t support the weight of the equipment needed for the recovery of the 70-ton vehicle without significant engineering improvements. Draining the area has been slow and difficult due to ground water seepage.”

The four soldiers, whose identities have not been released, went missing early on Tuesday when they were on a mission to recover another Army vehicle during unit training. The Hercules was found on Wednesday, and teams have been working since then to get the vehicle out.

The soldiers are part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. A U.S. Navy dive crew is being brought in, and the Polish Armed Forces have volunteered to send engineers, additional equipment and 150 personnel to also assist.

“This will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers home," said Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of 1st Armored Division. "I remain incredibly impressed by the discipline, commitment and comradery in this unit as they attempt to recover their missing comrades.”

The soldiers were reported missing during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town less than 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the border with Belarus.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from seeking office for 5 years, a political earthquake

2025-04-01 03:36 Last Updated At：03:40

PARIS (AP) — A French court on Monday convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years — a hammer blow to the far-right leader’s presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.

Le Pen denounced the verdict in an interview with French TV channel TF1 as a “political” move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election and said that millions of French people “are outraged.”

She described the ruling as a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign. She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.

Le Pen also was given four years’ imprisonment, with two to be served under house arrest and two suspended - which would not apply pending appeal.

The court ruling was a political as well as a judicial temblor for France, hobbling one of the leading contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and final term. So broad were the political implications that even some of Le Pen's opponents said the Paris court had gone too far.

But it’s too early to say how the case will affect voters. The potential elimination of Le Pen could fire up diehard supporters, just as U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s legal problems motivated some of his. But it could also leave her on the sidelines, deflating what had been her upward trajectory.

Le Pen said the court should not have made her ineligible to run for office until all her chances at appeal had been exhausted, and that by doing so it was clear the court was aiming “specifically to prevent” her from being elected president.

"If that’s not a political decision, I don’t know what is,” Le Pen said in the TF1 interview.

She said the ruling marked a “fateful day for our democracy” but vowed to keep pursuing what she called the now “admittedly narrow” path to the presidency.

“There are millions of French people who believe in me, millions of French people who trust me,” she added: “For 30 years I’ve been fighting for you, and for 30 years I’ve been fighting against injustice, so I’m going to continue fighting.”

Le Pen herself was not around to hear the chief judge pronounce the sentence that threw her career into a tailspin. By then, the 56-year-old politician had already strode out of the courtroom.

Her supporters quickly expressed their disapproval of the verdict. Jordan Bardella, her 29-year-old protégé who could replace her on the ballot in 2027 if she cannot run, said on X that Le Pen was “being unjustly condemned” and that French democracy was “being executed.”

Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, quickly took to social media to express his support, posting “Je suis Marine!” — I am Marine — on X.

Among political opponents of Le Pen who expressed unease was conservative lawmaker Laurent Wauquiez, who said the verdict put “a very heavy weight on our democracy.”

The sentence could prevent Le Pen from making what would have been her fourth run for the presidency in 2027, a scenario she has previously described as a “political death.” The party’s most recognized figurehead and a formidable campaigner, Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years.

Only an appellate ruling that overturns the ban on public office could restore her hopes of running. But with the election just two years away, time is running out. There’s no guarantee that an appeals court would rule more favorably, and appeals in France can take several years to conclude.

The verdict was a resounding defeat for Le Pen's National Rally party, formerly the National Front.

She and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.

The judge handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like Le Pen, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers. Also convicted were 12 people who served as parliamentary aides and three others. Only one defendant was acquitted. All had denied wrongdoing during the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024.

The chief judge said Le Pen had been at the heart of “a system” that her party used to siphon off EU parliament funds, though she said they didn't enrich themselves personally. The ruling described the embezzlement as “a democratic bypass" that deceived the parliament and voters.

From the front row of the court, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge first declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the verdict was delivered in greater detail. She shook her head in disagreement as the judge said Le Pen’s party illegally used European funds for its own benefit.

“Incredible,” she whispered at one point. She then left without warning, picking up her bag and striding out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. The abrupt departure left many in the courtroom in disbelief as they turned their heads toward the door.

The electoral ineligibility takes effect immediately, but the house arrest is suspended while she appeals.

Le Pen also serves as a lawmaker in France's National Assembly, a role not affected by the ineligibility ruling that she can keep for now.

But if Macron dissolves parliament again, as he did last year, and calls early legislative elections, she would be barred from running.

Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France. Thomas Adamson in Paris and Justin Spike in Budapest contributed.