7-year-old boy missing after being left in the woods by his parents as punishment

The couple admitted that they abandoned the boy as punishment. However, 7-year-old Yamato Tanooka then disappeared without a trace.

The couple initially lied to police that the boy had gotten lost on a family mountain climbing trip in Hokkaido.

The place where boy Yamato Tanooka was punished was a forest full of bears. (Illustration: BBC).

150 rescuers searched for Yamato Tanooka for two days but to no avail. It was then that his parents told him what really happened.

They claim they returned to the spot where they abandoned him “immediately” but the boy was no longer there. The incident happened on 28 May.

Baby Yamato Tanooka's father told Asahi TV that he did not have the courage to tell the truth when reporting the incident to the police.

According to VOV