Father in Japan leaves seven-year-old son behind while climbing Mount Fuji

A father in Japan left his seven-year-old son behind while climbing Mount Fuji.

Japanese media reported that the incident occurred on August 20. The father and his two sons, aged seven and twelve, were setting off on a traditional route to climb Mount Fuji (3,776 meters high).

At the beginning of the route, the younger son said he was tired. The older son was already far ahead. As a result, the father put his younger son on a bench by the side of the road, gave him a drink and food, and told him to wait there. He himself continued to climb.

The boy was found more than 2 kilometers above the summit by the sixth station on the Fujinomiya route. He was sitting in fog and in the rain.

The officers called the police and found the father between the seventh and eighth stations, about a three-hour walk from where he had left the boy.

The officers ordered the father to return immediately and gave him a stern warning for leaving his son alone. As a result, the boy was left alone for eight hours.

"Even if we had to give up climbing, we shouldn't have left the boy behind," one of the officers was quoted as saying by Japan Today.

The father admitted his mistake and apologized to the police.

The Fujinomiya route that the father and his sons took begins at the fifth station, which is accessible by public transport.

From this station, it takes five hours to reach the summit, and another three hours to descend.

Fujiyama has been the scene of several tragic incidents in recent times.

In July, a 99-year-old woman had to be rescued after falling from its slopes, injuring her hip and back. Last year, a 27-year-old student had to be rescued twice after climbing during the seasonal restrictions. The second time, he went back up to look for his lost mobile phone.

Mount Fuji, southwest of Tokyo, is one of Japan's three sacred mountains and is depicted in many traditional Japanese paintings.

In 2013, the mountain was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

About 200,000 people climb Fujiyama every year. In addition to seasonal restrictions, some routes also have daily limits on the number of people allowed to climb the mountain.