A massive search operation for a missing 6-year-old boy with autism in a wooded area of northern Germany has gone into its sixth day after a new tactic to help locate the child proved unsuccessful.
"Unfortunately, the night did not bring us any progress," said a police spokesman on Saturday morning in Bremervörde, a town west of Hamburg.
Using a so-called "silent strategy," around 200 German soldiers looked for the boy named Arian in small groups and with night vision equipment. Their search did not turn up any leads.
The police said that the new strategy had been discussed with an autism expert. Arian is autistic and does not 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.
Arian left his parents' house alone on Monday evening. A surveillance camera had filmed the boy running towards a neighbouring forest. The family home is in Elm, a small outlying community of Bremervörde.
Hundreds of people have been canvassing the area for days, and on Friday the German Armed Forces increased their support to a total of around 450 soldiers.
On Saturday, the search will continue along the town's Oste river. Police divers searched the water earlier in the week.
Teams have been expanding the search zone and have also used drones and a helicopter in hopes of spotting the boy from the air. A Tornado aircraft was also deployed to take aerial photographs with a thermal imaging camera.
