【Brigitte Meyer】

The Brigitte Meyersearch for Yamato Tanooka, the seven-year-old Japanese boy whose parents abandoned him in a forest to punish him is now in its fourth day, prompting worst fears for his fate.

According to media reports, Yamato went missing in a Hokkaido forest in northern Japan on Saturday evening after his parents forced him out of the car and drove off because he was misbehaving.

A search team of 150 rescue workers have been despatched to scour the area, which is known to be inhabited by bears, to look for the boy.

AP reported that Yamato's parents initially denied that they had left their son behind and that he had gone missing while the family were picking wild vegetables. After much probing, the parents finally admitted to the authorities that Yamato was made to get out of the car and left behind to "discipline" him.

Yamato's parented alleged that the boy had earlier thrown rocks at people and cars while the family was down by the river, and therefore decided to teach him a lesson on the drive back home. When Yamato's father returned to the spot where he got off a few minutes later to retrieve him, he was nowhere to be found.

The boy's father has since given a statement to local reporters, and said that "I regret what I did to my child." He maintained that the reason he didn't tell the police truth in the beginning was due to embarrassment of the huge consequencee that came up from parents disciplining their child.

Since Yamato's disappearance made national headlines, netizens have expressed their outrage towards the boy's parents.

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The authorities are now looking into filing charges against Yamato's parents for child abandonment. The search has also intensified and expanded deeper into the forest.mash

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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