A 13-year-old schoolboy reported missing after leaving home in the morning was found asleep in a decorative stove in Petropavlovsk, where he had climbed in to warm up, infohub.kz reports.
According to the information media portal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at around 5:30 p.m. on November 10 a resident of Rabochy Posyolok called the 102 hotline in Petropavlovsk to report that his 13-year-old son had disappeared. The boy had left home in the morning and had not returned, and he had no phone with him.
All available police units on patrol were immediately directed to search for the teenager. Every service was brought into the effort, including officers from the special rapid response unit. Three drones were deployed to inspect hard-to-reach areas of Rabochy Posyolok and its surroundings.
Inspectors at the operational control center reviewed footage from surveillance cameras. Working alongside them at the center was Torebek Kalelov, an operative officer with the Second Police Division of the Petropavlovsk police department. It was he who spotted the boy on the camera footage and traced his route to Zaitseva Street on the outskirts of the settlement.
At around 6:30 p.m. the teenager climbed into a decorative stove installed near one of the houses. He later told police he had hoped to warm up and fell asleep. Officers found him there and returned him safely home.
The boy had not run away from home before. Juvenile police officers will now investigate the reasons behind his actions. Preventive talks have so far been held with the parents and the teenager.