Thane, Apr 24 (PTI) Four migrant labourers from Thane who took a forest patch to reach Nashik, almost 150 kilometres away, got lost and had to be rescued by police and a disaster management team after one of them sent an SOS from a mobile phone, an official said on Friday.

The rescue operation took almost eight hours and continued from late last night till early Friday morning, he added.

"The four men wanted to avoid police during the lockdown so skipped the highway route and started walking through the forest. They got lost when they reached a stretch in Kasara. One of them sent an SOS though mobile phone after which police and disaster management personnel mounted a rescue operation," he said.

"They got stuck at Unta Dari area, some 13 kilometres inside the forest in Kasara. The rescue team spotted light from a mobile phone and zeroed in on the four near Ghatandevi Temple inside the woods," he added.

He identified the four as Narendra Chowdhary, Bhoopal Nissar, Rakesh Kol and Fulchand Rawat, all working in local godowns.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)