‘No Trace’ of Boy Abandoned in Japanese Mountains by Parents

Japanese military have now joined the search for a seven-year-old boy who has been missing in a dangerous mountain range for four nights. More than 200 army personnel, police officers and volunteers are now scouring dense forestry for Yamato Tanooka, who vanished after being left in the remote area, believed to be populated by brown bears, in the north of Japan on Saturday. Experienced bear hunters have also joined the search party after fresh bear droppings were discovered nearby.

Watch: Japanese Boy Missing After Parents Leave Him in Forest https://t.co/WRXkG2d17c #International pic.twitter.com/mgOGt3Q9E3

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A spokesman for the Hokkaido Prefectural Police told the media outlet that the child went missing at approximately 4pm (local time) as the family foraged for wild vegetables. His parents reported him missing at 6pm. The couple originally claimed that their son had disappeared during a day trip but later admitted that they told him to get out of the car on the way home “as punishment” for throwing rocks earlier that day. The parents apparently drove back immediately to the area where they left Yamato but he was not there. "I couldn't bring myself to say it was to discipline him … and then ask the police to search for him," Yamato's father (44) told TV Asahi.

"I want to apologise to my son, also for causing trouble for so many people. I'm just filled with the feeling hoping that he comes back safely."

Spokesman for the local town of Nanae, where the search party is based, Mitsuru Wakayama told AFP:

"We asked the SDF to go into places which people can’t easily access, such as deep crevasses along creeks,” “We have already covered the same areas over and over again,” he said, but added that it was hard to imagine even a lost adult being able to travel over such an extensive area on foot. “We have not taken such a long time before to find signs of a person in distress,” he said.

Today the rescue party will scour the mountain slope of Mount Komagadake, which is north of the road where the child was abandoned.