diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/se/searxng/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/se/searxng/package.nix
index d6e46d8576bb..7bca3ca181a7 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/se/searxng/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/se/searxng/package.nix
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ python3.pkgs.toPythonModule (python3.pkgs.buildPythonApplication rec {
 
   postPatch = ''
     sed -i 's/==.*$//' requirements.txt
+
+    # can't be fetchpatched as it is essentially empty and it complains about that
+    # TODO: drop when updating to a version that includes https://github.com/searxng/searxng/pull/3563
+    touch searx/answerers/random/__init__.py
+    touch searx/answerers/statistics/__init__.py
   '';
 
   preBuild =