ALLENTOWN, Pa. » Scores of police officers, firefighters and volunteers searched for a 5-year-old eastern Pennsylvania boy with autism who wandered away from a New Year’s Eve party barefoot and coatless.

Jayliel Vega Batista was last seen about 11 p.m. Thursday running near an intersection in Allentown, police Capt. Tony Alsleben said.

Jayliel, who is from Allentown’s South Side, had been at a party and was playing with a toy when he “left out of nowhere,” his 16-year-old sister, Tayritza Molina, told The Morning Call of Allentown on Friday.

“We’re scared but we’re trying to keep positive thoughts in our head,” she said.

Private search-and-rescue teams joined the hunt for Jayliel. The searchers were using dogs and two helicopters.

Authorities said the boy should not be approached because he is likely to run from strangers.

“He is afraid of people, so we’re asking the public that if they do see him, that they not call out his name, just to call us immediately,” Allentown Police Chief Keith Morris said.

The Allentown Police Department’s Facebook page asked residents to “check and re-check their properties,” especially porches, sheds, garages and other spaces where the boy might have sought shelter.