By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch said on Saturday it feared for the fate of 48 African migrants in Egypt, including recognised refugees, citing reports that several of them may have been forcibly returned to Sudan.

The migrants -- 44 Sudanese, three Ivorians and a Somali -- were taken into Egyptian custody in August when they were deported from Israel after illegally trekking across Egypt's long desert Sinai border into the Jewish state.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said the migrants had been held in incommunicado detention in Egypt since their arrest, and that it learned from media reports that Egypt may have sent five of them to Sudan on Oct. 28. "Egypt's apparent decision to forcibly return Sudanese asylum seekers is unconscionable," Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East director, said in a statement.

"We are extremely worried by Egypt's failure to account for these people. ... The entire incident reveals Egypt and Israel's shared disregard for the plight of Sudanese fleeing Darfur," she said.

African migrants, some from war-torn Darfur, have increasingly risked being shot by police to cross into Israel seeking asylum and a better life away from conflict in Sudan and harsh living conditions in Egypt, where activists say they face economic marginalisation and racism.

Egyptian police have shot dead at least two African migrants at the border this year, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, and wounded several others as the number of those trying to enter Israel has swelled into the thousands this year.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was also concerned about the fate of the Sudanese and complained that Egyptian authorities had so far denied it access to the 48 migrants.

A UNHCR spokeswoman in Cairo said 23 of the migrants were either recognised as refugees or had pending refugee applications, while the others could be in danger if returned to Sudan because they had spent time in Israel.

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