NATO walked back its claim that the four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania had died. On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that four U.S. soldiers who had gone missing during a training exercise in Lithuania had died.

A U.S. Army commander says recovering four soldiers from their submerged vehicle in swampland in Lithuania "will be a long and difficult" operation.

The troops, assigned to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, were last seen aboard an M88 recovery vehicle before it was found submerged in deep mud and water.

U.S. Army Sgt. Edvin Francisco Franco had to leave behind his new wife and baby earlier this year for a months-long deployment to Lithuania.

The four soldiers, whose identities have not been released, went missing early Tuesday when they were on a mission to recover another Army vehicle during unit training.

Sgt. Edvin Franco and three soldiers are missing after a recovery mission in Lithuania, leaving families seeking answers.

The search in dense, muddy swampland came after the U.S. Army vehicle disappeared in a waterlogged area on Tuesday.

The search for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing in their vehicle during a scheduled training exercise near Pabradė, Lithuania, is ongoing Friday, with officials bringing in more assets to help with the recovery mission,

Recovery efforts for the four missing U.S. soldiers and the submerged M88 Hercules armored vehicle that was found remain ongoing.