Huge search underway for mute six-year-old German boy Arian who vanished after parents took their eyes off him for just three minutes while he was playing in the garden – with fighter jet scrambled to help the hunt

A massive search has been launched for a mute six-year-old boy who disappeared after his parents took their eyes off him for just three minutes.

Little Arian Arnold went missing on Monday evening while playing in his garden in the small town of Elm, near Bremervoerde, in the northern state of Lower Saxony. His terrified parents alerted local police just minutes after noticing his disappearance.

Authorities have since launched a massive search for the boy, deploying an army Tornado jet, sniffer dogs, drones, a sonar boat and several divers to the search.

The autistic six-year-old, who is non-verbal, had only recently started playing in the garden on his own – where a trampoline and football goal post had been set up for him – and usually came into the house of his own accord.

But when he disappeared, his parents “quickly recognized the seriousness of the situation” and called the fire department and police, who said the search for the boy was “particularly difficult” because he did not speak or respond to people.

‘Arian can hardly express himself. We are looking for a guy who won’t contact us even when we are around him. It’s possible he’ll still be gone the next evening. The situation is dramatic,” the police chief told the German tabloid Image.

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, joined the frantic search yesterday when it sent one of its Tornado fighter jets to scan the area using a thermal imaging camera

More than 400 people join the search, searching the wooded, swampy area around Arian’s home, foot by foot

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, joined the frantic search yesterday when it sent one of its Tornado fighter jets to scan the area using a thermal imaging camera.

More than 400 people participate in the search, in which they comb the wooded, swampy area around Arian’s house, step by step, in a human chain.

Over the past two nights they have searched fields, hedgerows and barns until late in the evening, with no results.

Hopes that the boy will be found alive are dwindling as the current cold weather in Lower Saxony makes it “difficult to survive in the forest at minus two degrees,” a search volunteer said.

Temperatures in the region fell below freezing on the night Arian went missing and forecasts predict further cold weather after temperatures reached around minus two degrees last night.

The fire brigade called this ‘critical’ and confirmed that temperatures were ‘just below freezing’.

His parents’ house in Elm is right next to rapeseed fields and a large forest, which helpers have been combing through since Monday evening.

In the nearby Oste River, divers and a sonar boat scanned the water for Arian, who was wearing an orange sweater, black sweatpants with a dragon pattern and socks when he disappeared around 7:30 PM on Monday.

Police asked residents to check their yards, outbuildings and private security cameras in the hope of locating the boy, as he “could also be in a shed or similar shelter.”

“The search measures have not yet been completed, we may have to search the areas that we have already searched several times,” said police spokesman Heiner van der Werp.

Police and fire brigades comb the field in the search for missing six-year-old Arian in Lower Saxony, Germany

Scores of emergency vehicles are parked along a road in the town of Elm, Lower Saxony, as hundreds of police and firefighters desperately try to locate the boy.

Emergency services with sniffer dogs run along a dirt road in Elm, Lower Saxony, in a frantic search for Arian

He added: “We will continue our search piece by piece next night. The helpers turn every stone to find Arian.’

The spokesperson said police are doing everything they can to find the boy, while they are still trying to determine how he could disappear so quickly after just learning to open locked doors.

“Unfortunately, we currently have no indications as to where the boy could be,” police said at a press conference today.

A young woman living near Arian told Bild: “Everyone who lives here lives in harmony with each other. But it must be said that everyone has a tendency to live alone and in isolation. I just hope he shows up soon.”