JOHANNESBURG, Jan 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - South African police said Friday that
they had rescued 26 undocumented Ethiopian nationals who were being held
captive without clothes in a suburban house in Johannesburg by suspected
human traffickers.

Up to 30 other men may have already escaped through a smashed window before
police swooped in on the house late Thursday and could be hiding in the area,
the police priority crimes unit said.

According to preliminary information from the rescued men, the group was held
in the house in the Sandringham suburb in northern Johannesburg without
clothes or documents, Colonel Philani Nkwalase said.

Last August, police found more than 80 undocumented Ethiopians locked in a
house in the same suburb in inhumane conditions and without adequate food and
personal hygiene facilities.

Late Thursday residents of the area alerted police about a suspected break-in
underway at the house, where a window was shattered and its burglar bars
broken, Nkwalase said.

"Upon arrival, they found 15 naked individuals, suspected to be Ethiopian
nationals, held captive inside the house," he said.

Another 11 men were taken to hospital with injuries apparently caused when
they tried to escape, including deep cuts.

Three other Ethiopian nationals were arrested on suspicion of human
trafficking and the illegal possession of a pistol.

Although most of the captives did not speak English, initial information
received from them indicated that they were only given clothes when they were
taken out of the house, Nkwalase told AFP.

Based on their information, it was "not far-fetched" to assume that 60 men
had been held in the house, he said. Police did not yet have details of the
men, including their ages and identities.

It was also not clear how long they had been there and, when they were taken
out, where they were taken to and for what purpose, he said.

South Africa, the continent's most industrialised nation, attracts millions
of migrants, many of them undocumented and from other African countries such
as Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.