Children’s songs, fireworks, balloons and no waste collection: investigators pull out all the stops to find Arian (6)

Arian has disappeared without a trace from his parental home near Hamburg since Monday evening. It is feared that the 6-year-old boy with autism has become lost in a swampy area. Detectives are doing everything they can to find Arian and are using striking techniques.

Source: Die Welt, Suddeutsche Zeiting, Bild

Today at 11:37

On Monday evening around 7.15 pm, Arian was last seen at his parental home in Ohfeldring, near Hamburg. The boy was playing at home and the parents quickly raised the alarm when they no longer saw him. He is said to have walked towards an adjacent forest. “Yesterday during the evening we found footprints that could be Arian’s,” a police spokesperson said Thursday morning. “This gives rise to a possible direction in which Arian could move. The dogs picked up a scent.” Hundreds of emergency workers, soldiers, helicopters, sniffer dogs and drones have already been deployed, without much result.

And time is running out. Due to the low temperatures and Arian’s relatively light clothing – he was wearing a sweater but no jacket – the police described the situation as “very serious”. “He is autistic, does not speak, and does not respond when spoken to,” police said. Arian cannot express himself well, which complicates the search even further. But they don’t give up. Detectives are doing everything they can to find little Arian, day and night.

Candy, balloons and nursery rhymes

The boy’s parents had earlier asked local residents to check possible hiding places and search their belongings. The investigators checked all barns and garages in the area on Thursday. Even the garbage bins were checked. Friday morning’s waste collection was also canceled because there is still a chance that Arian has lain in a garbage bin.

At the request of Arian’s parents, the fire brigade hung colorful balloons and candy at 17 locations around the forest area, hoping that Arian would find his way there. “The boy could react positively to something like that,” said a police spokesperson. Large loudspeakers play children’s songs, and the investigators use ‘skybeamers’, large spotlights that project a beam of light into the air.

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According to a police spokesperson, fireworks were also set off because the boy likes that. These are all incentives that, according to the police, should encourage the missing boy to seek out the locations. The investigators installed wildlife cameras that respond to the heat energy of people and animals and detect every movement. But so far all those techniques have not helped.