The Red Cross workers had not expected the (refugees from) the flooded plain (to be) as desperate and as undernourished (as those) whom they (had seen) earlier in the week. (No error).
I thought [as those] should be changed to [as them] because “those” is referring to the refugees(people). Google said that "that” and “which” refer to group or thing. Should I regard refugee as a group of people and use “those”? Or I cannot use “them” in the sentence because “whom” is used later? Please help me!