MAPUSA
Four tourists were found hiding in the forest in a bid to escape a possible retaliation from people after a car rammed into a roadside electricity pole at Assagao.
According to reports, a group of six pilots of a private airlines and a friend from Delhi, Haryana, Mumbai and Punjab had arrived in the State and were staying in a hotel at Assagao.
The tourists went for a party in Morjim late Friday night and were returning from the club in two cars, when they were overtaken by another vehicle.
Suspecting that this vehicle was after them, one of the cars began to reverse when the driver lost control and rammed into a roadside electricity pole.
Fearing backlash from people, the four tourists abandoned the car and fled into the nearby forest.
One of them then contacted their family and said they had been abducted. The panic-stricken family member then contacted a police official in Delhi, who got in touch with the Goa Police.
In the meanwhile, the three other colleagues in the other car reached the hotel and went to sleep.
On receiving news that pilots of a private airlines had been allegedly abducted, Goa police alerted most police stations and the Crime Branch in North Goa. A number of police teams rushed to Assagao and launched a search operation for the tourists.
Based on the call location, the police later traced the tourists safe on Saturday noon and realised that the abduction was a hoax.
