New Delhi, April 11 -- A 9-year-old boy was rescued this week after living locked in his father's utility van in eastern France since 2024, according to the local prosecutor. Authorities said after forcing the van open, they found a child "lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement," reported AP.

The child was clearly malnourished and could no longer walk, because he had been in a seated position for so long, it said.

Authorities said the child has been hospitalised, and his father detained.

The incident came to light on Monday, 6 April - after police were alerted by a neighbour to "sounds of a child'' coming from a van in village of Hagenbach near the borders of Switzerland and...