A seven-year-old boy missing for six days in a bear-inhabited forest in northern Japan, after his parents ordered him out of their car for being naughty, was found alive on Friday, officials said.
The boy, apparently unharmed and in good health, was found at an otherwise deserted military base at about 7.50 am, a police spokesman said.
“A Self-Defence Force official who was on a drill found a boy whose age appeared to be seven,” he said.
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“There was no conspicuous external injury, and the boy introduced himself as Yamato Tanooka,” said the spokesman for police in northern Hokkaido island.
Manabu Takehara, a spokesman for the Self-Defence Forces, also confirmed that the boy was found.
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Jiji Press reported that Yamato had found a tap from which to drink, but had had nothing to eat for the past week.
Search party members celebrate in the town on Nanae on Friday after being told that missing boy Yamato Tanooka had been found alive. Photo: Kyodo
Yamato Tanooka, aged seven, went missing in the Hokkaido wilderness after being ordered out of his parents' car for being naughty. At right, a search and rescue helicopter scours the area for the boy on Monday. Photos: Handout and Kyodo
