8 minor girls escape from Thane observation home; 7 found

THANE: Eight teenage girls escaped from a government-run observation home in Maharashtra's Thane district, prompting authorities to launch a massive search operation following which seven of them were traced, police said on Thursday.

The girls, in the age group of 15 to 17 years, broke the window grill of a bedroom at the facility, located in Ulhasnagar township, in the wee hours of Tuesday and escaped from there, an official from Hill Line police station said.

The observation home's caretaker promptly alerted the local police who immediately launched the search operation.

Out of the eight girls, seven were traced at two different places in Ulhasnagar in less than two hours of the operation and brought back to the facility, while one was yet to be found, the official said.

He said the seven girls were traced well before the start of the local train service at the Ulhasnagar station or else they could have escaped out of the town.

The girls did not like to be lodged at the facility and hence decided to run away from there, he said.

The Hill Line police have registered a case in this connection, he added.