Boy Found Alive after Being Left Alone in Woods by Parents Narrates How he Survived

A 7-year-old Japanese boy, Yamato Tanooka who went missing for nearly a week after his parents left him alone in bear-infested woods as punishment, has been found safe and sound.

According to Mirror, Yamato’s parents had briefly left him by the woods near Nanae in Hokkaido region, Japan, to punish him for throwing rocks at cars on a family day out. By the time they returned after five minutes, their son had vanished.

Yamato was later discovered at a remote Japanese military base on Friday, about 2.5 miles from where he vanished almost a week ago. He had survived for days without food and managed to wander down the side of a mountain.

When he was found, the boy revealed that he survived in the woods for almost a week without food.

He told police he had been drinking from a tap outside the military base where he was staying.

The boy further revealed: ”I walked there myself on the night of May 28th, down the mountain, and I drank water to get by. There wasn’t anything to eat.”

He slept on mattresses spread on the hut floor.

But after nearly a week’s search, involving up to 130 police officers, Yamato was found alive and unharmed.

He was quickly rushed to a hospital. Doctors at the hospital where he is being treated says he has only minor injuries, but was suffering slightly from hypothermia.

Rescue officers who found the boy said his first words were: “I’m hungry.”

Takayuki Tanooka, the boy’s father, was too embarrassed to admit the truth when Yamato went missing and he was forced to request a police search on Saturday.

He thanked rescuers after his boy was found apologising for causing trouble.

Tanooka said: “We’ve reflected on what we did and it was really excessive.

“We – well, we loved him before, but I hope to give him, even more, attention now.”

A member of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces said: “One of our soldiers was preparing for drills this morning and opened the door of a building on the base, and there he was.

“When he asked ‘are you Yamato?’ the boy said yes. Then he said he was hungry, so the soldier gave him some water, bread, and riceballs.”

The lucky boy somehow managed to survive for nearly a week in the densely forested area, where night temperatures fell as low as seven degrees and heavy rain had fallen, despite wearing only a t-shirt and jeans.