Two 9-year-old twins effectively spent four months on their own in a New Hampshire apartment as their parents were taking a trip to Africa, Fox News reported.

Manchester police said the boys' 25-year-old uncle would stop by every two days to drop off food but did not otherwise take care of the youngsters. They charged Giobari Atura with one count of endangering the welfare of a child, and authorities placed the twins into protective custody and foster care.

Their parents, who returned home as soon as they found out that the boys were being left alone, will not be charged, assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Michael Valentine told the news channel. The children have since been returned to their custody.

The adults had traveled to Nigeria in July with the intention of returning to the United States within a month but were held up because of "illness and passport issues," CNN noted. During their absence, Atura reassured them by phone that "everything was OK," they told police.

"They did have conversations with the defendant and with the children, and they were still under the impression that Atura was taking care of the kids," Valentine told New England Cable News.

Officials originally visited the family's home after the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families received a call from the twin's school. A police officer noted that the apartment contained no edible food other than ramen noodles in the cabinet.

"I think the kids came to school without a jacket and in flip flops in early November," Valentine told New York's NBC 4. "These kids were getting themselves out of the building, on the bus when they could, walking to school at other times."

Authorities were "just really impressed with their resourcefulness," the assistant county attorney added. Atura claimed he had told them to call if they needed help, but officials said there was no phone in their apartment, according to New England Cable News.

"That was a concern and part of the charge against him" Valentine said. The children did not have any recourse "if something went wrong," she added.

Atura will face a court date within a few months, New England Cable News detailed.