A six-year-old boy who was missing for five days has been found deep in a forest in Vietnam.
Dang Tien Lam, a resident of Van Yen district in Yen Bai province, disappeared on August 17 while playing in a stream with his nine siblings.
Lam was discovered on Wednesday by a local farmer, Ly Van Nang, who found the boy in a weakened state and unable to stand. Lam was located sitting among cassava bushes approximately 6 km from where he had gone missing.
“I’m so tired, I can’t stand up. Please carry me,” Lam reportedly said, according to 52-year-old farmer Ly Van Nang, as cited by BBC News.
During his ordeal, Lam survived by eating leaves, wild fruits, and drinking stream water.
Local authorities had mobilised around 200 people, including police, soldiers, and volunteers, to search for the child.
The intensive search included reviewing CCTV footage to determine if Lam had been abducted. After ruling out kidnapping, rescuers checked streams and even emptied fish ponds to investigate the possibility of drowning.
Just before noon on Wednesday, while farmer Ly Van Nang was returning to his tent in the forest for lunch, he heard the child's cries.
Nang promptly carried Lam down the hill, where he was reunited with his parents and subsequently taken to a medical facility for a health check-up.