Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 24 (IANS): Four girls, including three minors, who allegedly went missing on their way to school still remain untraceable.

The girls were reported missing on Tuesday.

The police came across CCTV footage in which the four girls are seen coming out of a building after changing their school uniforms and then boarding a bus to Sitapur.

Lakhimpur Kheri Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vijay Dhull, said on Wednesday that he had immediately alerted all police outposts and circulated the girls' photographs in the public as well as on various social media platforms.

Suspecting that the girls had eloped on their own and they were not abducted, police said they had deployed five teams to track them.

According to reports, the families became worried after the girls did not return from their school on time.

Their families searched for them and then, fearing for the lives of their daughters, the parents lodged a complaint with police. All the four girls are close friends and students of the same school in Lakhimpur city.

Police, meanwhile, said one of the girls, 20, a student of Class 12, had left home with Rs 25,000 cash. She, along with three minor girls aged between 15 to 16 years, were seen boarding the bus.

Police teams have been rushed to Lucknow and Sitapur.

The SSP said, "The bus conductor, who identified the girls, said he had dropped them at Sitapur bus stand. It appears from the CCTV clips and the conductor's account, that the girls left home on their own. We do not see anyone accompanying them."

The girls have all turned off their mobile phones and their last location was traced to Sitapur.

The police have been scanning CCTV footage of the bus stand and railway station and are coordinating with their counterparts in Sitapur and Lucknow in the search operations.