LONDON: 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 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of abducting the nine-year-old, who disappeared nearly a month ago.

“Shannon is currently in the care of West Yorkshire Police,” a police statement said. “Investigations are ongoing.”

She had gone 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 late 1970s.

Detectives found her during a raid on a flat in nearby Batley Carr early on Friday afternoon. She was hidden in the base of a divan bed.

Neighbours said police smashed their way into the house and brought her out. She appeared “quite calm”, witnesses told reporters at the scene. “She looked OK — there didn’t seem to be any physical marks on her. You could tell she was scared, though,” one unnamed resident told the Yorkshire Evening Post Web site.Police raided the house after a tip-off from a close neighbour, according to an unconfirmed report on Sky News. 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.—Reuters