Father leaves 7-year-old son unattended on Mount Fuji during hike

A 48-year-old man was reported to have left his seven-year-old son on a bench near the sixth station of Mount Fuji, more than 2,000 metres above sea level, while he and his older child continued toward the summit. The boy was discovered by staff at a mountain hut in foggy, rainy conditions and police were alerted. He was located at 07:30 local time on Thursday and later reunited with his father, who was found at the eighth station, about three hours farther up the trail. Police said the father’s decision to leave the child behind was unacceptable and he apologized for the incident. The family had been using the Fujinomiya route, which begins at the fifth station and is reachable by public transport. Climbing guides note that reaching the summit from that point typically takes five hours, with an additional three hours required for descent. Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak at 3,776 metres, has seen several recent climbing accidents, including a rescue of a 99-year-old woman in July and a 27-year-old university student who required two rescues last year after straying from the official season.