Three US women missing for years rescued in Ohio
Three young women who vanished about a decade ago in the US state of Ohio have been found and are in hospital in a fair condition, officials have said.
Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 in 2003, while Gina DeJesus went missing at the age of 14 a year later.
They and Michele Knight, 32, who vanished in 2002 at the age of 20, were found in a house in the city of Cleveland, police confirmed.
Three brothers have been arrested in connection with the case.
Cleveland police said the suspects are Hispanic, aged 50, 52 and 54, and one of them had lived at the house on Seymour Avenue.
Gina DeJesus' uncle said they were in shock but very grateful for her discovery.
"In all this time, 10 years, nobody never figured nothing about where she was at and this has come to an end and it's right here on Seymour," he said.
Meanwhile, a doctor confirmed the three women were being kept in hospital for observation.
"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories," said Dr Gerald Maloney in a brief news conference outside Metro Health hospital in Cleveland. "We're very happy."
Speaking amid cheers from spectators, he added the women were able to speak to hospital staff but he declined to give further details.
The BBC's Jane Little says it was assumed the girls were dead, and the mother of one victim said she believed her daughter had been sold into slavery.
At least one of the women is reported to have a baby.
'Here a long time'
In a frantic call to police released to the news media, Ms Berry identified her captor as Ariel Castro. She said she had escaped after he had left the house.
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After disappearing a decade ago at the age of 16, Amanda Berry (right) is finally reunited with her sister (left).
Local news stations say Mr Castro is one of the men in police custody.
"I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive," Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said.
"We have many unanswered questions regarding this case and the investigation will be ongoing."
A neighbour said he had seen a woman screaming for help at the front door of the house.
Photos of Berry (left) and DeJesus were distributed widely after they went missing
Charles Ramsey said he suggested the woman open the door and exit, but she told him it was locked.
"We had to kick open the bottom," he said. "Lucky on that door it was aluminium. It was cheap. She climbed out with her daughter."
Mr Ramsey then sheltered the woman, who said there were others in the house.
Ms Berry was last heard from when she called her sister on 21 April 2003 to say she would get a lift home from work at a Burger King restaurant.
In 2004, Ms DeJesus was said to be on her way home from school when she went missing.
Their cases were re-opened last year when a prison inmate tipped off authorities that Ms Berry may have been buried in Cleveland. He received a four-and-a-half-year sentence in prison for the false information.
Amanda Berry's mother, Louwana, died in March 2006, three years after her daughter's disappearance.
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