A major search operation for a missing 6-year-old boy with autism in a wooded area of northern Germany has entered its sixth day after a new tactic to help locate the child was unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately, the night did not bring us any progress,” a police spokesman said on Saturday morning in Bremervörde, a town west of Hamburg.
Using the so-called “silent strategy”, around 200 German soldiers searched for the boy named Arian in small groups and with night vision equipment. Their search turned up no clues.
Police said the new strategy was discussed with an autism specialist. Arian is autistic and doesn’t respond when someone talks to him.
Earlier in the week, investigators set off fireworks in hopes of attracting the boy, as he has always been interested in fireworks, while firefighters hung candy and balloons in the woods near his family’s home.
Arian left his parents’ house alone on Monday night. A surveillance camera filmed the boy running towards a neighboring forest. The family home is in Elm, a small community on the outskirts of Bremervörde.
Hundreds of people have been scouring the area for days, and on Friday the German Armed Forces increased their support to a total of around 450 soldiers.
On Saturday, searches will continue along the Oste River, in the city. Police divers searched the water earlier in the week.
Teams have expanded the search zone and also used drones and a helicopter in hopes of locating the boy from the air. A Tornado aircraft was also deployed to take aerial photographs with a thermal imaging camera.
