BREAKING: Boy Abandoned In Forest Has Been Found ... Finally

#1 The missing Japaanese boy Yamato Tanooka, seven, was found after six days in a bear-infested forest

A Japanese boy who miraculously survived six days alone in a bear-infested forest without food or water told the rescuer who found him he was hungry before wolfing down rice balls and bread.

Yamato Tanooka, 7, was rushed to hospital suffering exhaustion and dehydration but otherwise apparently unharmed on Friday after a massive search ended with the boy being found in deep woods on the northern island of Hokkaido.

He was discovered inside an old Self-Defense Forces training facility in the town of Shikabe about three miles from where he disappeared.

Last Saturday his parents made him get out of their car as punishment for misbehaving, leaving him behind in a wooded area. When they returned minutes later, he had disappeared.

#2

Japanese boy Yamato Tanooka was taken to Hakodate hospital by helicopter after he miraculously survived for six days in a bear-infested forest where he had been left as punishment by his parents on Saturday

#3 Tamayuki Tanooka, Yamato's father, has apologised to his son and those involved in the search effort

#4 These are the mattresses the seven-year-old boy slept on inside the military facility

#5 A soldier shows the mattresses that Yamato had been sleeping between while searchers looked for him

#6 An aerial image of the dormitory buildings at the Ground Self-Defense Force Komagatake exercise area where Yamato was found on Friday morning

#7 This is the building in a military drill area where Yamato stayed for six days as searchers looked for him

#8

When rescuers reached him just before 8am local time on Friday morning after he had been missing for six days, the boy said he had walked to the SDF facility on his own through the mountains, investigators said.

'One of our soldiers was preparing for drills this morning and unlocked the door of a building on the base, and there he was,' a member of Japan's Self-Defence Forces told NHK national television.

'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.'

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#10 Takayuki Tanooka addressed the media on the day his son was found alive after six days in a forest

#11 'We've reflected on what we did and it was really excessive,' the boy's father said

#12

Tamayuki Tanooka said he made Yamato get out of the car to 'discipline' him and drove off. But when he returned a few minutes later he was nowhere to be seen

#13 Local police have said the child is in relatively good health after spending six days on his own

#14 Yamato was reunited with his parents at the hospital

#15 According to local authorities he was given some water and a rice ball by his rescuers

#16 Yamato survived six days on his own inside this facility without any food or water

#17 He walked five kilometres from where his family left him to the military base

Local media reported the boy survived by sleeping between two mattresses inside the abandoned military dormitory which was an unheated wooden building.

He told police had had been drinking water from a tap outside the building while he was staying inside the military base.

Dr. Yoshiyuki Sakai, the doctor who examined Yamato, told Asahi TV the child appeared to be in a good condition for a boy who had not had food for six days.

The seven-year-old was suffering mild dehydration and malnutrition, and had a mild rash and scratches on his arms and legs, the doctor said.

According to The Guardian, Yamato was 'incredibly calm considering he had been missing for seven days. He didn't panic at all'.

#18 Pictured is the military site the boy was found at after six days on his own

#19 Rescuers are seen here celebrating the news that Yamato had been found alive

#20 Media gather outside Hakodate Hospital where the boy was taken after being found

The boy's father Takayuki Tanooka earlier said: 'We have done an unforgivable thing to our child and we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone. I just hope he is safe.'

More than 180 rescuers, including soldiers, were scouring the Higashionuma area where the parents said they dropped the boy off.

There were no signs of the boy or any eyewitness reports of him, according to police.

Bears are sometimes seen in the mountains of Hokkaido, but an attack by one of the animals is unlikely because none has been spotted in the area, the authorities said.

The boy's mysterious disappearance had captured international attention, with many praying for his safe return.

#21 Police said more than 180 rescuers, including soldiers, were searching the area where the boy was believed to have been dropped off

#22

Yamato was forced to get out of the car between Shikabe and Onuma on the northern island of Hokkaido, and may have wandered off into the heavily forested Higashionuma mountain range

#23

Many people bitterly criticised the parents, triggering a debate over whether their treatment of the boy was discipline or child abuse.

The parents initially said he disappeared while they were picking wild vegetables.

Later they admitted they made him get out of the car as 'discipline' after he threw stones at people during a visit to a park.

Mr Tanooka said the boy was gone when he drove back to the spot a few minutes later.

Police said they are considering whether the parents should be charged with child abandonment.

'Making children obey by giving them fear or pain is bad parenting, it's abuse,' Naoki Ogi, a professor of education at Hosei University, said in his blog.

#24 Search team: There have been no signs of the boy or any eyewitness reports of him, according to police

#25

The parents of a seven-year-old boy missing in the Higashionuma mountain range where bears live admit they lied about his disappearance and left him there as punishment during a family hike

#26

Most people on social media rebuked the parents as neglectful and according to reports, the story sparked a nationwide discussion about what was acceptable parenting.

'If he was actually throwing stones at cars, that shows there wasn't a lot of discipline anyway and probably not enough love either,' said one person.

'Whatever the result, this is parental neglect. It's cold in the Hokkaido mountains, and I hear there are bears, too,' said another person.

The Higashionuma area is so remote residents of the Nanae region, just north of the city of Hakodate, say they rarely travel through it.

Yamato was last seen wearing a T-shirt and jeans in an area where the overnight temperatures can fall as low as 7C (45F).

Yamato is not a common child's name in Japan. It is a name for ancient Japan and a famous battleship, the Yamato, sank in April 1945 with the loss of 3,000 sailors after going on a final 'suicide mission' at the end of World War II.