The police on Thursday said that 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, reported news agency PTI.

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