Russian toddler survives 3 days in Siberian forest

Three year old found unharmed after three days in freezing temperatures in Siberian forest teeming with bears and wolves.

Toddler Tserin Dopchut was rescued from the Siberian forest after being lost for three days.
TRT World and Agencies

Toddler Tserin Dopchut was rescued from the Siberian forest after being lost for three days.

A Russian toddler has survived three days unharmed in the near freezing Siberian wilderness with nothing more than a bar of chocolate in his pocket.

Three-year-old Tserin Dopchut survived by sleeping in a dry place between the roots of a larch tree and by eating chocolate in the cold woods rife with wild animals, The Siberian Times reported. He wandered off into the forest while in the care of his great grandmother.

"There are wolves and bears in the forest. The bears are fattening for the winter. They can attack anything that moves," an official who works for the emergency services said.

"In addition, it is warm during the day, but at night there are even frosts."

The toddler, who was only dressed in a shirt but no coat, is believed to have wandered into the forest while following a puppy. He was found three kilometres away from his hometown of Khut, in Russia's Tuva region in the south.

Dopchut's uncle said when they found the little boy, the first thing he asked for was his toy car.

Over a hundred people consisting of Russian Emergency Ministry rescuers, volunteers, family members and police were looking for Dopchut. A helicopter combed an area of 120 square km.

Photo by: MCHS Press

Emergency officials comb the Siberian wilderness for the three year old Tserin Dopchut who was lost in the forest for three days.

Dopchut has been nicknamed "Mowgli", after Rudyard Kipling's fictional character who was raised in the jungle by wolves.

"He was given the second name Mowgli for surviving so long alone in the cold woods," Sholban Kara-Ool, a district official from Tuva said.

"It is now predicted that he will become a rescuer himself because he showed incredible stamina for his age by surviving for so long alone in these cold woods."

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