10-Year-Old Boy Left Home Alone Without Food, Water Or Power While Mother Visited Friends

A 31-year-old woman has been arrested for leaving her 10-year-old son locked inside a house without food or water in Moscow.

Natalya Azarenkova was arrested for abandoning her son, Mikhail, for five days in their cockroach-infested apartment in Peredelkino, Moscow, while she went to visit her friends.

The incident came to light when neighbors heard the boy's cries for help and noticed that the apartment was locked from outside.

Mikhail requested them not to inform emergency services fearing that he will be taken away and would lose his mother, Daily Mail reported. The boy informed the neighbors that he was locked inside for four days and was starving. He was left with only dry rice and no water to cook the dinner. The apartment also had no power and was in filthy condition.

The neighbors lowered food and drinks from a balcony above his apartment. As his mother did not return even on the next day, they informed the emergency services.

The emergency officers came and forced open the door to rescue the boy. He was then taken to a nearby hospital.

Azarenkova reportedly told her son that she was taking their pet dog, Dzaina, for a stroll and locked him inside the apartment. The woman was arrested after she returned eight days later.

Dmitry, a neighbor, told Daily Mail that the apartment was a "total mess" with cockroaches, flies and a dreadful odor. "I cannot think about how the kid managed to outlive 5 days there," he said.

Mikhail's father died two years ago and neighbors told the outlet that the boy was devoted to his mother.

Azarenkova admitted to police that she was with her friends after locking her son in the apartment. She claimed that she had left rice for two days but did not explain why she abandoned the boy for so long.

"I want my son, I wish to repair every little thing," she told the police.

Azarenkova will lose custody rights of her son and will have to face prison.