Boy, 7, vanishes in Hokkaido wilderness after parents order him out of car for being naughty

A seven-year-old boy is missing in a forest in northern Japan after his parents reportedly made him get out of the car as punishment.

About 150 rescue workers resumed searching Monday in a wilderness area on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. Yamato Tanooka has been missing since late Saturday afternoon.

Hokkaido police said the parents initially told the authorities that their son had disappeared while they were picking wild vegetables, but hours later admitted they had made him get out of the car “as discipline” while on a hiking trip.

Police said the father returned to where the boy got out of the car a few minutes later but he had vanished.

The parents told police that Tanooka was ordered out of the family car as punishment for throwing rocks while playing at a river earlier in the day, according to Japanese media.

Kyodo News said that police were investigating whether the case constituted child abandonment.

(AP)