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The body of a child which was found Friday at the edge of a river in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, has been identified as that of a three-year-old boy who has been missing since Dec 9.
Police said Saturday that a DNA test identified the boy as Ren Tanaka who disappeared from his father’s car in a parking lot in Echizen on the afternoon of Dec 9, Fuji TV reported.
The body was found about 35 kilometers away among thickets at the edge of the Kuzuryu River by a fisherman at around 9:50 a.m. Friday. Police said the boy was wearing a green long-sleeved hooded jacket, long pants and sneakers, which matched the clothing Ren was wearing when he disappeared.
Police said there were no signs of external injuries on the body and believe the boy's death was an accident. Medical examiners said the boy died of either drowning or hypothermia.
Ren was last seen at around 2 p.m. on Saturday Dec 9, when his father, Ryoji, left him in the car in the parking lot of his office building. He was away from the car for about 10 minutes. When he came back, his son was gone.
Tanaka told police his son had been sitting in the front passenger seat with his seat belt fastened, but that he did not lock the car doors.
The river near the parking lot where the car was parked has no fences or barriers. Due to rain that day, the water level had risen and the current was strong.
Police believe Ren may have gotten out of the car and walked to the river where he fell in and was swept away.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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simon g
tragic news. on the positive side there was no foul play, just a young boy doing what young boys do unfortunately. RIP Ren and condolences to his loved ones.
Sarah Fukui
My 3 year old has been able to unbuckle a regular seatbelt since he was 2 1/2 and he is able to open car doors from the inside by himself as well. I’m assuming like most Japanese parents allow the boy was sitting in a regular seat belt without a child seat or in a booster seat. Many child seats made for older children don’t even use protective seat belts in Japan they just make use of the cars seat belt.
Tony W.
No child of that age should ever be left in a car even for ten minutes, regardless of whether the car is locked or not or how likely the child is to stay there. It is little trouble to take a child that can walk with you, and much safer. I'm sure the father is feeing really guilty, but then he deserves to.
Dukeleto
I honestly can’t even imagine the sorrow and despair the parents and family must be going through. The father will never get over this but hope he does eventually forgive himself. His loss serves as a reminder to the rest of us to never make the same mistake so while it’s incredibly tragic if the lesson prevents even one more child suffering the same fate it was not a pointless death and perhaps the father can take some solace in that. RIP little one.
quercetum
Unfortunately leaving a child unattended and for how long depending on the age are only addressed through guidelines and are not strict laws.
sensei258
Kinda feel sorry for the dad. How can he look his wife in the eye
smithinjapan
Sensei258: "Kinda feel sorry for the dad. How can he look his wife in the eye"
I feel sorry for the kid and the wife, and the rest of the family. How could you leave your kid in the car unattended? RIP to the poor kid.
Em Devlin
I know he is in the better place now.. I have a son same age know how to unbuckle seatbelt know how to open the door of the car so for me in that young age the children supposedly have somebody to look after him/her, they cannot be left unattended specially inside the car, that anything can happen without adult supervision. leaving your son unattended is a form of negligence. How can you trust 3 years old son he doesn’t know how to decide by himself. Parents should know how to protect thier child specially at that young age. I hope netizens who already read this specially the Parent have to be cautious and focus how to takecare of thier son.
maybeperhapsyes
sat in the pub and just saw this story. Genuinely feel pretty bad now. Some of you guys here just don’t get it.
there’s no fixing what happened. I don’t think you could inflict a worse punishment than what the father is going through now.
Rip little lad
DaDude
Rest In Peace
stocktrader
I think I saw that this couple has also a baby daughter. Fortunately being they hopefully don't commit suicide for her. I know I'd be suicidal if I were in his shoes. RIP Little Ren.
nakanoguy01
Never, ever, ever leave young children unattended in a car. I honestly have no idea what that dad was thinking. Truly a preventable tragedy that the dad will never get over.
Luddite
Oh no, poor little soul. RIP.
macv
very sad RIP
simon g
Is there a single parent that hasn't at some stage had their toddlers wander out of sight? Likewise who hasn't left a kid in a car in a car seta while running inside to do something? 10 minutes a bit long, but no one is perfect. except some posters on JT comments section perhaps.
sensei258
It was a horrible mistake that he will regret the rest of his life, and I hope the family can heal from this. I once watched a father dump his newborn from the stroller onto the pavement as he was trying to exit the bus. The baby was not secured, and the father tipped the stroller forward as he went down the stair, out tumbled the baby, who bounced off the bottom step onto the sidewalk. I'm pretty sure the mom wanted to kill him, but stopped because there were too many witnesses.