NICOSIA: UN peacekeepers in Cyprus said Tuesday that twin three-year-old girls lost in the buffer zone dividing the Mediterranean island were safe after they were separated from their parents in no man’s land.

The family, reportedly from Pakistan, were said to have attempted to cross over from the north to the south through the UN-patrolled buffer zone, but the children became separated and got lost in the dark.

One girl was found cold, wet and scared by a United Nations patrol before dawn on Tuesday, but her sister was not with her.