A Tunisian rights group on Friday said it had found shelter for 28 migrants and asylum seekers who were abandoned without water and food near the Tunisian-Algerian border.
"Our teams found 28 people in catastrophic humanitarian condition, without any water or food," Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights group (FTDES) said in a statement.
Seven women, three of them pregnant, and two children were among those assisted, out of 42 reported displaced and abandoned in the desert border region, it added.
FTDES spokesman Romdhane Ben Amor said the others were apparently "hiding because they are afraid" of the police.
Migrants, asylum seekers expelled
On Thursday, rights groups said the migrants and asylum seekers had been expelled from the coastal city of Sfax, Tunisia's main departure point for Italy, and taken by authorities to the governorate of Gafsa, which borders Algeria in southwestern Tunisia.
Tunisia is a key departure point for irregular migrants attempting perilous sea crossings of the Mediterranean to seek better lives in Europe.
Ben Amor said the 28 were found with help from local authorities and the National Guard, which then transferred them to a police station, ahead of being moved to a shelter run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
At least 25 of those rescued from the border region were from Sierra Leone, Ben Amor said, while others were citizens of Liberia and Nigeria.
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