Two teenage girls who went missing on Monday evening were found dead on Tuesday close to a railway track off Katpadi junction in Vellore, police said.

The girls, identified later as 17-year-old M Punithavalli and 16-year-old A Soundarya, were residents of Kasi Kuttai village in Katpadi taluk.

The two girls were close friends. While one was a class 12 student, the other had completed class 10 and they had gone out of their homes last evening for a stroll.

When they did not return, their parents had frantically searched for their daughters all through the night. The bodies were spotted by railway field staffers who were on a routine track inspection.

"The bodies of the two girls were found near the railway track off Katpadi. It may be an accident. We are inquiring into it and a case has been registered," a Government Railway Police official told PTI.

The bodies have been sent to Gudiyatham Government Hospital for autopsies, which are underway.