Overview
- A resident reported hearing multiple cries for help early Tuesday, prompting police and Feuerwehr Hattingen to launch a search in the forest between Felderbachstraße and Höhenweg.
- Police used the caller's handheld thermal camera on the ground while the EN-Kreis 'Sondergruppe Drohne' from Witten conducted intensive drone flights with an aerial thermal camera.
- Firefighters said they themselves did not hear any calls and that roughly two hours of coordinated ground and aerial thermal scanning produced no sign of a person in distress.
- Units withdrew at about 4 a.m. without finding anyone and authorities said they regard the caller's account as credible and are not treating the incident as a malicious false alarm.
- Officials will prepare a formal incident report and the episode underscores how local emergency services now combine drones and thermal imaging for nocturnal searches.