In a remarkable story of survival, a six-year-old boy who went missing for four days in a forest in northern Vietnam has been found alive, police confirmed on Thursday.
The child, whose disappearance was reported last Saturday after he failed to return home with his siblings from a family celebration in Yen Bai province, was discovered in a mountainous area of Lam Giang commune.
Local police, who immediately launched a search operation, even dried up a nearby pond in fear that the boy might have fallen into it.
“Over the past four days, more than 200 people joined in the search,” a police officer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, stated.
“The boy was finally found on Wednesday, tired but alive.”
According to state media, a local man heard the child’s cries and found him covered in mud, sitting in a cassava bush deep within the forest. Despite being exhausted and weakened, the boy was given food and his health was checked on the spot, confirming that he was in stable condition.
His mother, Ly Thi Phai, expressed immense relief at the news. “I was so happy that my child had returned alive,” she told VietnamNet. “I cried because he looked thinner and weaker than before he disappeared.”
The young boy later explained that he had become lost in the forest and, with each step, felt more disoriented. To survive, he relied on drinking water from a stream and foraged for leaves and wild fruits that he recognized.
The incident has gripped the local community, highlighting both the perils of the rugged northern Vietnamese landscape and the resilience of the human spirit.