The largest search operation to date for a 6-year-old boy with autism who went missing in northern Germany nearly a week ago was carried out on Sunday.
Police, soldiers, firefighters, members of the THW civil protection agency and hundreds of volunteers banded together to scour an area centred near Bremervörde, a town to the west of Hamburg.
In all, about 1,200 people took part in the hunt for the boy named Arian. But by evening there was still no sign of him.
Arian left his parents’ house alone on Monday evening. A surveillance camera filmed the boy running towards a neighbouring forest. The family home is in Elm, a small outlying community of Bremervörde.
The search zone, which had previously focused on the area around Elm, was extended on Sunday to more remote locations. As part of the efforts, a 1.5-kilometre-wide human chain moved from north to south toward Elm.
Boats, drones and search dogs were deployed, while the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the fire brigade searched ditches and pipes.
Around 60 soldiers with night vision goggles also took part.
“The large number of forces” that were deployed on Sunday “shows that we still have hope,” said a police spokesman. Investigators have said there are no indications of foul play in Arian’s disappearance and that the search will continue on Monday.
Arian is autistic and his family says he does not always respond to being spoken to.
Earlier in the week searchers set off fireworks in hopes of attracting the boy, as he’s always been interested in fireworks, while the fire brigade hung sweets and balloons in the woods near his family’s home.
Police divers have also searched the nearby Oste river.
