Major operations triggered

Joke calls: Boy (15) invented death and fire

One of the alleged locations: the Marchfeld Canal

(Bild: klemens groh)

A 15-year-old boy dialed the emergency number on both Monday and Sunday and invented serious observations such as a dead person in the Marchfeld Canal or a fire. The boy was quickly located.

An initially unknown caller told the police on the phone that he had seen a lifeless person floating in the Marchfeld Canal - a dismembered body was actually pulled out of the canal in January, bringing back gruesome memories.

A large contingent of emergency services - police, ambulance and fire department - rushed to the scene but were unable to find anyone. When questioned, the caller repeatedly gave contradictory information and obviously provided false information. No lifeless floating person could be seen at the location or in the vicinity.

Fires were "hoaxes"
On the same day and on Sunday, the prank caller also made an emergency call to the fire department regarding a fire in a stairwell and in a restaurant in Vienna-Floridsdorf. In these cases, too, it quickly turned out that it was again a "joke".

In the course of the investigations, it was quickly established that the caller was a 15-year-old. An investigation is underway on suspicion of misuse of distress signals.