3 Women Freed After 30 Years' Captivity in London

Police have rescued three women from a London house where they were allegedly held captive and may have been treated as slaves for 30 years or more, NBC News reports. Authorities were first contacted about the situation last month, by a domestic abuse nonprofit. The women—a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, 57-year-old Irish woman, and 30-year-old British woman—are "highly traumatized" but are now in "a place of safety," reads a police statement. Two 67-year-olds, a man and a woman, were arrested "as part of an investigation into slavery and domestic servitude," it continues.

"We applaud the actions of Freedom Charity and are working in partnership to support these victims who appear to have been held for over 30 years," says a police spokesman. The Irish woman apparently contacted Freedom Charity after seeing a television documentary on forced marriages related to the nonprofit's mission, the Irish Independent reports. (More captivity stories.)