Maria Villamizar feared the worst after learning that 16 people had disappeared in the Venezuelan mountain town of La Grita, a famous meeting place for Catholic pilgrims near the Colombian border.

“It was shocking because we had never heard of anything like this here,” Villamizar, a government official in the farming town of 90,000, told AFP on Friday.

More than 160 police officers, assisted by dogs and drones, were deployed to find the group after they disappeared on August 22 while they were leaving for a religious retreat, leaving their cell phones to avoid being disturbed.

Local media labeled the group as “religious fanatics” and a cult of “aliens” waiting for “the end of the world.”

Officials searched the mountains for days before announcing on Thursday that the group, which included a 20-day-old baby, had been found at a farm called El Rodeo and were alive and well.

Agents showed the group videos on their phones of locals expressing concern about them, said Yesnardo Canal, a local police officer.

“The kids innocently said they were famous, but the adults were ashamed,” Canal said.

“They were surprised. The last thing on their mind was all this fuss happening.”

All 16 were returned to La Grita early Friday and given medical and psychological evaluations, police said.

The news sparked relief across La Grita.

“Thank God they’re fine,” Villamizar said at a local church, standing next to towering stained glass windows and a figure of Jesus Christ, to whom local Catholics attribute several miracles.

“There was fear” and “very crazy theories,” said Deivis Marquez, 30, a church deacon.

“It has been a great joy for us” that the lost living in and around La Grita have emerged, he said.

“Everywhere in the city” people have been talking about the missing group, said Maria Isabel Rolon, 53, at her street stand in front of the basilica, where she sells paintings and holy cards.

Some parents have expressed outrage at their children being taken to the retreat.

A father of six minors in the group asked police for help when he could not reach them, police told AFP news agency.

Another parent said her 13-year-old went to the retreat without her permission.

“It wasn’t a show,” said Yeilen Gutierrez, the 13-year-old’s aunt.

“It wasn’t a game, it was a kid who was missing.”

After days of fear, calm has returned to La Grita.

The city is an important agricultural center in Venezuela and has a certain mysticism to the Catholic parishioners.

Every year on August 6th, the city receives hundreds of pilgrims who “thank” the Christ of La Grita for his “favor”.

The locals are “deeply religious people,” said Juan Escalante, mayor of the municipality of Jauregui, to which La Grita belongs.

“It is important that we welcome these families with open arms.”