Missing Japan boy was left in mountains as punishment: Police
Image of Hokkaido mountains for illustration purposes only. The father of Yamato Tanooka had initially told police that his son got lost but later admitted that they had left the boy in the mountains as a punishment.
The parents of a seven-year-old Japanese boy missing in the mountains confessed on Sunday they had left him as a punishment and he did not get lost during a hike as first claimed, police said.
More than 150 rescuers and police officers were searching for a second day in mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido after Yamato Tanooka went missing on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
His parents originally told police Yamato got lost while the family were out walking in the area, a habitat of bears, to pick wild vegetables.
But the parents later admitted they had lied, he said.
"The parents left the boy in the mountains as a punishment," the spokesman said. "They said they went back to the site immediately but the boy was no longer there."
The father told a TV Asahi reporter he did not dare admit the truth while requesting a search.
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