Süleyman Yıldırım, one of six siblings from a rural family in northern Turkey, was found wandering some 10 kilometers (around 6 miles) from his home, about 22 hours after he disappeared.
The boy was tired and his clothes were dirty but he appeared healthy and was taken to an ambulance, hugging his mother and father.
Before being reported missing, he was last seen playing outside the family's stable in the highlands near Çat in the northern province of Tokat. A couple working in a field in the district discovered the boy and alerted authorities.
Search and rescue crews, soldiers and drones combed the vast Seküdağ Highland and surrounding areas after the boy's disappearance. Before the boy was found, his mother Sema Yıldırım told reporters that they had only left the boy unattended for half an hour as they tended to their animals and that she feared a predatory animal might have taken him. Security forces are now trying to determine whether the boy was taken to the spot or if he walked all the way alone.
The child's disappearance renewed fears for families in Tokat, where cases of missing children have made headlines since 2015. Eight-year-old Bayram Erol and five-year-old Dursun Kağan Taşçı, who were neighbors, went missing on Dec. 29, 2015, in the province, triggering a frantic search. Taşçı and Erol were last seen playing outside near their homes. Two years later during an unrelated search for a missing man at a pond, Erol's remains were found. Taşçı still remains missing. On July 10, 2018, three-year-old Evrim Atış who lived with her family in another Tokat highland also disappeared. Atış was never found despite extensive efforts to locate her.
