'Siberian Mowgli' emerges after 16 years living with his family in the wilderness... after his parents mysteriously vanish Unnamed man is thought to be around 20 years old, authorities say He emerged from the wilderness after his parents disappeared in May The region is known for hot summers and long, cold winters A young man has emerged claiming that he has spent the past 16 years living with his parents in a hut in the Siberian wilderness. People near the town of Belokurikha found the man, who told the local prosecutor he was born in 1993 and had lived in the forest since 1997, when his family decided to leave society. But his parents left him alone in the hut in May and he finally went to a nearby village to ask for help when the summer ended, local officials said. The Altai Mountains: The Siberian region's rolling foothills, grasslands, lakes, rivers, and mountains are alternately frozen and baked by long cold dry winters and hot, usually dry summers Belokurikha is a well-known resort area in Russia's picturesque Altai region in south Siberia, known for mineral springs, health spas, and skiing. Its rolling foothills, grasslands, lakes, rivers, and mountains are alternately frozen and baked by long cold dry winters and hot, usually dry summers. Echoes: 'Forest Boy' Robin van Helsum, who turned out to have invented his story to run away from his pregnant ex-girlfriend and rent arrears The Russian media are variously calling the man who came forward 'forest boy' or the 'Siberian Mowgli,' after the main character in Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book.' Roman Fomin, a local prosecutor, told AFP that a local woman had brought the young man to authorities out of fear that he may need help through the cold winter, but the man then had gone back to his hiding place in the forest. Official from Mr Fomin's office, alarmed that he may have to spend winter alone in the wild, appealed in court to have his identification documents reestablished so the man, who has not been named, can seek seek state support. Mr Fomin said: 'I am not sure if he needs all this attention. He looked normal and healthy. 'He only spoke slowly, since he doesn't communicate as often as most people.' He said that the man's family went to live in the wild as a conscious decision, but apparently not out of religious reasons. 'They are not religious people,' he said. 'He was just afraid that he won't survive the winter without his parents,' Fomin said. But maybe they have already come back. Remote: The location of Belokurikha, in Siberia's Altai region, near where the young man was found The story has echoes of the 'Forest Boy' who two years ago duped German authorities into believing he was an English teenager called Ray who ad been brought up in the woods of central Europe. He said he had been living in a forest with his father called Ryan for five years but had buried him after his sudden death two weeks previously. It eventually emerged that he was 21-year-old Dutchman Robin van Helsum who had concocted his elaborate tale in an effort to escape debts to his landlord and a pregnant ex-girlfriend.