An eight-year-old boy turned himself in for making hoax calls about a hill fire trapping 25 teachers and pupils in Hong Kong, with police giving him a verbal warning.

The force said on Friday that the boy surrendered himself at a police station the previous day and admitted to making fake emergency phone calls in which he claimed that four teachers and 21 pupils were stranded on the Pat Sin Leng mountain range in Tai Po due to a blaze.

“After a preliminary investigation, officers issued a verbal warning to the boy before he was allowed to leave,” police said.

They also stressed that making a hoax call not only affects the efficiency of handling emergencies but could also prevent residents in need from receiving immediate help.

Under the law, anyone who makes a false report and wastes police resources, upon conviction, faces a maximum fine of HK$2,000 (US$257) and up to six months in jail.

On Thursday afternoon, police received four separate calls about a blaze on the 511-metre (1,676.5-feet) Hsien Ku Fung, one of eight peaks in the Pat Sin Leng range in the northeastern New Territories.