Search expanded for missing boy

Japanese rescuers on Monday expanded the search for a 7-year-old boy missing for three days after his parents left him in a mountain forest inhabited by bears as punishment in a case that has infuriated public opinion.

The parents originally told police the boy got lost on Saturday while they were hiking to gather wild vegetables but later admitted they had left him in the forest to punish him.

The boy, Yamato Tanooka, went missing in mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido inhabited by wild bears.