‘Wait here,’ is what a dad told his seven-year-old son before leaving him alone on Mount Fuji and continuing his hike.
The boy had been making his way to the summit with his father and older brother on Thursday morning via the Fujinomiya Trail.
He complained of feeling tired at the sixth station, which is at an altitude of approximately 2,490 metres and at least five hours from the summit, but his dad decided not to pause to rest or turn back.
Instead, he instructed him to stay put while he carried on the ascent with his other son, a first-year middle school student.
Hours later, the first-grader from Nagoya, Japan, was found by a mountain hut worker.
He was sitting on a bench at around 7.40am, with hiking time estimates suggesting his father had left him at roughly 4.30am.
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As fog began to gather and rain fell, it sparked concerns, as weather conditions on the mountain can change quickly, so the worker brought the boy inside for shelter and called the police.
Authorities were thankfully able to reach the father, who had made it to the eighth station, where police urged him to abandon his climb and collect his son.
Upon being reunited, the boy’s father was scolded by police: ‘Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable.’
The man expressed remorse, saying: ‘I made a rash decision, and I deeply regret it.’
Fortunately, the boy was unharmed.
Police also issued reminders to other hiking groups, telling them to stay together and set their pace based on the person with the least stamina or the least physically capable.
Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan and its most popular hiking period is July to August. Around 200,000-300,000 people climb the mountain each summer.
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