The mother of a 2-year-old boy who was found safe three days after he went missing on an island in Yamaguchi Prefecture expressed her relief and joy at being reunited with her son.
"I didn't think I would be able to meet him alive," Mio Fujimoto, 37, told reporters Wednesday after her son Yoshiki was rescued by a search volunteer. He was found on a mountain about 560 meters from his great-grandfather's house, where he had been visiting for the summer.
For the past three days, Fujimoto had been clinging to hope that her son could be found safe. On Wednesday morning, Yoshiki's grandfather rushed to let the family know that the boy had been spotted. As Yoshiki was brought down from the mountain, the mother was overwhelmed with emotion and could only call out her son's name.