MUMBAI: In probably the first such instance, a total of seven runaway and lost children were rescued within a single day from a Central Railway station by the RPF on Monday.The day ended on a happy note for at least five of the seven children—all boys—as the RPF managed to track down their families too. Some of the boys had left home to meet movie stars while others had got separated from their kin in long-distance trains. They were all found at Dadar “It is our priority to ensure that children do not fall into wrong hands. Our personnel have been alerted to look out for kids travelling alone and volunteers from the NGO ChildLine are also proactive,” said senior inspector Satish Menon, Dadar RPF.On Monday, Dadar RPF team received a call from ChildLine Varanasi about two boys, aged 15 and 17, who had run away and were headed to Mumbai. The boys were carrying cellphones, a little money for food, and general compartment tickets. They were neighbours at Varanasi; one of them lived with his uncle. “Their plan was to meet movie stars in Mumbai. They lied they were in Mahanagari Express. Our personnel did not find them,” said sub-inspector Vineeta Shukla. The parents of one of the boys lived in Virar and were contacted by the RPF. “The boy’s mother, a heart patient, fainted out of anxiety. The boys revealed their location only when they were told about the mother’s deteriorating health by an aunt over phone,” said Shukla. It turned out the duo had boarded the Varanasi-LTT Express and got off at Kalyan. From there, they got into a local and came to Dadar. The RPF circulated the boys' pictures on WhatsApp among their team and searched the station till they were found.While the RPF was tackling the Varanasi boys’ case, they were alerted about two 12-year-olds found crying on platform six. The duo had run away from their Chembur homes for an outing in central Mumbai. But they got scared on seeing the huge crowds at Dadar. “The boys did not remember their parents’ phone numbers but knew their way home so we sent a constable with them. We realized later they did not want the constable to meet their parents as it would result in a sound thrashing,” said Shukla. They took the constable to a neighbour’s home instead of their own. But the constable did not leave before meeting the parents.In a separate incident, two boys, aged 11 and 12 years, were found bawling at Dadar after getting separated from their cousins. The boys belonged to an impoverished family and their mother was no more. They lived in a tent in a public ground at Borivli with their aunt. “The aunt had sent them with their two older cousins to travel to Nagpur and fetch their mother’s documents to claim government relief. But they got lost at Dadar. Their aunt said she couldn’t come to fetch them. So we had to send them to Mankhurd shelter by night,” said an officer.A 14-year-old suffering from a learning disability was also found. He was travelling with a relative from Surat in Gujarat to Sitamarhi in Bihar. But he got off at Satna in Madhya Pradesh and boarded a train to Mumbai. “An officer hit upon an idea to show him a phone and ask him to dial his parents’ number. We spoke to his father,” said Shukla.