Missing British Schoolgirl Found Alive

Missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was found alive on Friday, hidden in the base of a bed in a house in West Yorkshire, police said.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said a 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of abduction.

"Shannon is currently in the care of West Yorkshire Police," the statement said.

She went missing on Feb. 19 after going on a swimming trip in the town of Dewsbury, prompting one of the biggest investigations in the area since the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry of the 1970s.

An unnamed resident told the regional newspaper: "I have just seen Shannon being taken out of a house in Batley Carr. She is safe and well."

Relatives told reporters that police had driven the girl's mother Karen Matthews from the family home this afternoon.

Hundreds of police, dog handlers and mountain rescue teams had joined the search for the girl. Officers have spoken to more than 1,500 motorists.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; editing by Steve Addison)