(ANSA) - Nuoro, May 31 - Three Romanian nationals were
rescued by police after escaping from an isolated sheep farm
where they said they were held as slaves for over a month,
sources said Tuesday.
The three men, two aged 25 and another 56, described being
mistreated by a man who forced them to work all day and into the
night on one meal a day after luring them to the island region
with the promise of paying jobs and lodging.
They escaped and walked some 100 kilometers before a police
patrol picked them up - malnourished, dehydrated, dressed in
rags, and exhausted - on a country road some five kilometers
from the city of Nuoro.
They were taken to hospital where they were fed, hydrated,
and check out, and then to a shelter.
Based on their testimony prosecutors have narrowed down the
possible location of their detention to a village in the
sparsely populated, mountainous Mandrolisai sub-region.
Prosecutors also want to ascertain the possible existence
of a slave trafficking ring.