A Japanese boy by the name of Yamato Tanooka (7) who was abandoned in the forest by his parents has been found alive.
Yamato was found in a military barracks near Shikabe in northern Hokkaido, just a few kilometres from where he was left.
The parents who had abandoned him for being naughty, have now apologized to everyone involved in the rescue for causing them trouble.
The boy had reportedly been abandoned briefly as a punishment and when they returned to the exact spot where they left him found that they couldn’t find him and they were initially too embarrassed to admit what they did.
Yamato somehow managed to survive for nearly a week in the densely forested area, with freezing temperatures at night and also heavy rainfall. Yamato had somehow made it wearing only a t-shirt and jeans.
The Self-Defence Forces (SDF) and other search teams have been combing the remote area, home to brown bears, for a week in search of Yamato.
His father, Takayuki Tanooka during a press briefing outside if Hakodate hospital where Yamato had been taken for checks said “My excessive act caused my son to have a painful time
“I deeply apologise to people at his school, people in the rescue operation, and everybody for causing them trouble,” he said.
He also thanked the search teams, and said he had raised his son “full of love until now and I will continue to do so”
With no luck in a week hopes of finding Yamato alive were fading.
He was however, according to the BBC, found inside a building at the SDF base about 4km (2.5 miles) from where he was left.
“One of our soldiers was preparing for drills this morning and opened the door of a building on the base, and there he was,” an SDF member told NHK.
“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 rice balls.”