Thane:
Two senior citizens who went missing from their homes were reunited with their families by an organisation in Maharashtra using Google search to contact local authorities.
Mavjibhai Vaghri (70), who suffers from a mental ailment, went missing from his home near Vadodara in neighbouring Gujarat and was found in Nallasopara in Palghar district on September 14 and admitted to an ashram.
Volunteers and staffers of Jeevan Anand Sanstha, an NGO working to rehabilitate underprivileged persons, used Google search after Vaghri told them the name of his locality, and they contacted the local police there to trace his family, a release stated.
Vaghri was reunited with his family the next day on September 15, it stated.
Similarly, the organisation also managed to track down the family members of Padi Goma Bhukre, a 70-year-old tribal woman, who was reported missing in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, the release said.
Bhukre had mistakenly boarded a bus to Mumbai, where she got injured in an accident. After receiving treatment, she was sheltered at the Sanstha’s ashram on the night of September 14.
The organisation used Google search to get the contact information of the sarpanch of Bhukre’s village, and her family was informed, the release said.
Both the septuagenarians had been reported missing by their families, and their photos circulated on WhatsApp also helped in their identification, it was stated.
