7-year-old boy missing in Japan forest found alive

A missing seven-year-old boy who spent nearly a week sheltering in a hut after being abandoned by his parents in a bear-inhabited forest in northern Japan as a punishment was found alive on Friday, officials said.

Yamato Tanooka was discovered inside a military base by a soldier about 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) from where he went missing last Saturday, apparently unharmed and in good health.

Reports said he had taken shelter in the hut and found a tap to drink from but was hungry and was immediately given food when discovered.

After the emotional discovery, the boy's contrite father appeared before the media and apologised for causing his son's ordeal.

Yamato's parents have been severely criticised in social media for forcing him out of their car on a mountain road as punishment for misbehaving.
A Self-Defense Force official who was on a drill found a boy whose age appeared to be seven," said Tomohito Tamura, spokesman for police on the northern island of Hokkaido.

"There was no conspicuous external injury, and the boy introduced himself as Yamato Tanooka," he told AFP, adding that his parents were reunited with him and confirmed he was their son.

The boy "looked in good health" but was taken to hospital by helicopter for a check-up as a precaution, SDF spokesman Manabu Takehara said.

Yamato's emotional father later bowed in apology when speaking to reporters outside the hospital where his child was being treated, in an appearance aired by public broadcaster NHK.
"My excessive act forced my son to have a painful time," said Takayuki Tanooka.

"I deeply apologise to people at his school, people in the rescue operation, and everybody for causing them trouble," he added, thanking those who searched for him.

"The first thing I said to my son was, 'I'm very sorry to have caused you to face this suffering because of me,'" said the father, adding that his son nodded in return.

- 'Yes, I am' -

The parents originally told police their son got lost while they were out hiking to gather wild vegetables along with their daughter, but later admitted they had become angry with him for throwing stones at cars and people and had ordered him to get out of the car.
The local Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper said the boy had told police that on Saturday night he walked to the corrugated metal hut on the military base.

An unidentified SDF official told NHK that when the soldier opened the door of the structure he found the boy inside.

"When the official asked 'are you Yamato?' the boy said 'Yes, I am'," he said.

The boy was hungry so the soldier who found him gave him something to eat, another military official told NHK.

A still image shown on TV showed the boy wearing a baseball cap and T-shirt, holding some food and drink.
Nippon TV said there was a tap outside the hut that Yamato had been able to drink water from, and military officials told local media he had used two mattresses that were inside the hut to keep himself warm at night.

A local weather agency official told AFP that the lowest pre-dawn temperature recorded in the area located in the southwestern part of Hokkaido over the past week was 4.6 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit).

- A 'miracle' -

Japanese media interrupted regular programmes to broadcast news of Yamato's discovery in the case which has drawn huge attention.

The stunning development was the top trending item on Twitter in Japan.
"Wow, he was found!" read one tweet.

Ken Noguchi, a renowned alpinist who has climbed Mount Everest, tweeted: "If he survived by himself, it's an unbelievable miracle."

Others, also expressing amazement at the boy's survival skills, said he has the right stuff to be an elite SDF soldier.

"Isn't he a future candidate to be a ranger?," read a tweet.

Others were concerned about the impact of the ordeal on the young boy and even whether his parents should regain custody of him.

"I wonder if his heart was broken as he was discarded in the mountain," read a tweet under the user name Shirokuma.

"Should he be given back to the parents?" tweeted a user with the name Fujimo.

Police have said they are considering filing neglect charges against his parents, Kyodo News reported previously. 

Source: AFP