Three children apparently abandoned by their father at New Delhi railway station have been reunited with their mother after an appeal on Twitter.

An image of the children scared and huddled together on a platform at the station was tweeted by user @abishek1122 asking for help.

"Can someone help these helpless kids at New Delhi railway station near platform 16 entrance," he wrote.

Police were alerted and searched for the children for 30 minutes until they were finally located, NDTV reported.

At first, Rumana (7), Raja (5) and Sanya (4) were reportedly terrified and were unable to tell officers how they had got to the station.

But after being given something to eat, they said their father had taken them there on Tuesday evening.

The children were able to describe where they lived in the Nabi Karim area of the city and were later reunited with their mother.

Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of the railway police, told The Indian Express: "The eldest of the three, Rumana, told us that their house was somewhere near Nabi Karim police station."

"Policemen took the children to that area and walked around until they identified their house. They were reunited with their mother."

The children's mother, named as Tabussum (37), was reportedly asleep when officers arrived at her home.

Police said the woman, who is separated from her husband, claimed her husband regularly took the children away without telling her.

Charity World's Children said there are more than 11 million abandoned children in India - more than 90% of whom are girls.