Deserted 5-year-old takes toddler to neighbor in bitter cold

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say a 5-year-old left alone with a toddler in a rural Alaska village carried the younger child half a mile to a neighbor’s house in the bitter cold after the power went out.

Alaska State Troopers said Friday that the older child was dressed only in socks and light clothes.

Temperatures in the interior Alaska village had dipped to 31 degrees below zero and both children suffered cold-weather injuries.

The adult who left the children alone has been arrested on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a child.