South African boy 'held captive for 13 years'

Police are searching for the family of an 18-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped in South Africa when he was five and held in a dark room for 13 years.

The teenager, known as Bongani, was rescued from a house in the coastal city of Durban last week after neighbours alerted police to screams, South African media reported. A man has been arrested for indecent assault.

Police said that the boy was seriously traumatised and would only speak at night, indicating he had been held in the dark. He reportedly told police that he had no parents.

Hundreds of children, mostly from poor or broken families, go missing in South Africa every year.

There are an estimated 1,100 child murders each year and abuse and rape of minors is said to be on the rise.