A man left his 7-year-old son for many hours on Mount Fuji in Japan to continue his mountain climbing journey, leading to a severe warning from authorities, according to information from police and local media, AFP reported on August 22.
A police officer in Shizuoka prefecture said the boy was found alone on the mountain pass and was taken to the police station for surveillance.
According to local television, the boy told his father that he was tired when the group reached station number 6 of the mountain, located at an altitude of more than 2,000m. Because his older brother had gone forward, the father told the boy to "wait here" and then continued to climb the mountain with his other son.
Asahi TV quoted employees of a motel in the mountains - who reported to the police about the boy's presence - as saying that the child was asked to wait for 8 hours, with only a few snacks and a bottle of soft drink and no money.
Police contacted the father when he was at station number 8, then handed over the boy to him when he returned.
According to the police officer, the authorities reprimanded the man for abandoning his young child. The father is said to have apologized to the police and admitted that this was an act of carelessness.
