Hong Kong (CNN) Two women who fled Saudi Arabia for Australia, only to become trapped in transit in Hong Kong, are seeking a last minute visa extension from the city's authorities as they try to secure a more permanent refuge.

Hong Kong only accepts a handful of asylum cases, and the sisters are believed to be in the process of applying for refugee status with a third country.

The sisters' right to stay in Hong Kong expired Thursday, months after Saudi officials allegedly attempted to kidnap them at Hong Kong airport by trying to convince them to get on a flight home under false pretenses.

In a statement, lawyer Michael Vidler said they had appealed to the Hong Kong Immigration Department "to allow the sisters to continue to remain in Hong Kong as 'tolerated overstayers' on humanitarian grounds pending determination of their emergency rescue visas to a third country place of safety."

On Twitter, the sisters said "we are in fear every day we are in Hong Kong."

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