ABBOTTABAD, Aug 13: Two minor girls, abducted from Balakot soon after the October 8 earthquake, reached Edhi Centre Lahore and have been shifted to Edhi Home Islamabad.

Mehlak Bibi, 14 and Aqsa Bibi, 8, daughters of one Khalid Iqbal, were living in a tent village in Balakot with their younger brother and an aunt, Razia Bibi, who had lost both her legs. Parents of the girls had reportedly died in the earthquake.

Both the girls told Eidhi staff that some unknown people came to their tent and promised to look after them. They gave them some drinks after which they fell unconscious.

They said that they were abducted and kept somewhere in Lahore and three days ago they got an opportunity and fled from where they were kept in captivity. They had reached Edhi Centre in Lahore with the help of some local people.

Both the girls were later shifted to Islamabad. The in-charge of Edhi Home, Islamabad, said on Saturday, said they were trying to find their parents.

The girls, he said, were frightened and were unable to tell where they had been confined. They said their younger brother was still in the custody of their abductors.

After the earthquake, hundreds of girls and boys were abducted by criminals. Accordign to some reports published in the local press a few days ago, a large number of youths abducted from these areas were taken to different parts of Punjab and other areas of the country by some groups of human traffickers.