KOLLAM: All of Kerala and the parents of the six-year-old girl, who was abducted a day ago, heaved a sigh of relief after the child was found abandoned, but unharmed, by her captors at a public ground here on Tuesday afternoon.

The child was found abandoned at Kollam’s Asramam ground by female students of a nearby college and was later hospitalised.

Police said it has intensified its efforts to nab the kidnappers. Some college students who found the child alone in the ground told media that they saw a woman sitting with the child. “Later, we saw the woman, who was wearing a mask, walk away. Then we went to the child and asked the child to remove her mask to compare her with photographs circulating about the kidnapped girl. Then we confirmed it was the same girl and immediately alerted the police,” the students said.

The autorickshaw driver who dropped off the child and the woman at the grounds said he thought they were mother and daughter. “When my sonin-law called and informed me that the child was found near Asramam grounds I realised it must have been the same girl I dropped there. I went to the police and reported it,” he told a TV channel.

As news of the child being found was received at her home, the place lit up with smiles and tears of joy, shouts of relief, claps and whistles from the relatives, friends, neighbours and other well wishers who had spent a sleepless night there since Monday.

A woman, who was with the kid, walked away. Then, we checked and confirmed it was the kidnapped girl, college students said