A young Japanese boy recently went missing in a wooded area in Hokkaido, Japan after his parents left him alone.
According to CNN, more than 200 people searched for 7-year-old Yamato Tanooka for five days, including Japanese soldiers, with their efforts not proving to be fruitful for the majority of the week.
“We still have no clue. We just do not know where he went,” a rescue team spokesman said on Wednesday, several days into the search.
Here’s everything you need to know about Yamato Tanooka, his parents, and the rescue effort.
1. The Boy Was Found Alive on Thursday
On Thursday, five days after Yamato Tanooka went missing, he was found alive in a small building in Hokkaido the military use for training. When soldiers found him, he was lying uninjured on a mattress, according to The Guardian.
The building Tanooka was found in is about seven kilometers from where he went missing.
“The boy was found alive, but we don’t have information on details of his condition,” said fire department rescuer Satoshi Saito.
Tanooka has been taken to a hospital.
2. His Parents Left Him Alone as Punishment
Rescuers search for 7-year-old #missing boy in a #Japanese forest in Nanae town, on Hokkaido t.co/0nhYYhMf2c
Yamato Tanooka and his mother, father and sister were in the area on Saturday to hike and gather wild vegetables. Tanooka’s parents at first told police officers that their son had disappeared while the family was hiking, but they later revised their statement to reveal that they had locked him out of the car as punishment.
According to Fox News, Tanooka had been throwing rocks at people and cars while playing in the river earlier in the day, and so his parents wanted to frighten him and teach him a lesson by locking him out of the vehicle and driving away.
“I wanted to discipline him, so made him get out of the car to scare him a bit,” the boy’s father, Takayuki Tanooka, said. “He’s an active, lively boy, but I’m worried how he’s doing.”
3. His Parents Waited Two Hours to Contact the Police
Massive search for Japanese boy left in forest by parents as punishment
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After being locked out of the car, Tanooka was left alone on the road, and his parents drove for about 500 metres, as if to pretend they were leaving him behind. They returned to the area within a few minutes, but the boy was gone.
This all occurred at about 4 p.m. local time, but the parents did not contact police until 6 p.m. that evening, according to CNN. The boy’s father said that they delayed because they were worried about the consequences.
“I was not able to ask for [a search] with a reason of punishment,” Tanooka said. “I thought it might be taken as a domestic violence.”
4. Hundreds of People Searched for Him All Week
Japanese boy missing after parents send him to forest as punishment t.co/ynLVvtmIdN
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon, and search efforts lasted until Thursday in the wooded area of Nanae-cho, which is populated by wild bears. According to CNN, over 200 members of the local police, fire department and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces attempted to locate Yamato Tanooka, but they did not seem to have any promising leads until Thursday evening.
The situation looked grave for a while, especially because the area Tanooka became lost in is not very heavily populated. Mitsuru Wakayama, a spokesperson for the nearby town, said that residents only occasionally pass through this section of the woods.
“Not many people or cars pass by, and it gets totally dark as there are no lights,” Wakayama said. “It’s not surprising to encounter bears anywhere in the area.”
It was also a concern that it can get quite cold in the area, and the boy was only wearing light clothing. According to CNN, temperatures in this part of the forest often dip below 10 degrees Celsius.
5. His Parents May be Charged With Abandonment
Watch: Japanese Boy Missing After Parents Leave Him in Forest t.co/WRXkG2d17c #International
What’s not yet clear is what charges, if any, Tanooka’s parents may receive for leaving their son in the woods. A police spokesman told Kyodo News service on Monday that they were still determining whether the boy’s mother and father will be charged with abandonment.
The Japanese public has expressed outrage over the parents’ behavior, with one user writing on Twitter, “This is not punishment but abuse!”
On Wednesday, the boy’s father, Takayuki Tanooka, expressed regret for his actions.
‘We have done an unforgivable thing to our child and we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone,’ Tanooka said.