Authorities say three northwest Iowa girls who were the subject of an Amber Alert yesterday  are safe, but the search for the girls’ biological mother continues.

Authorities say at about 7:30 yesterday morning, 26-year-old Danica Noel Arzaga abducted her eight-year-old twins and four-year-old daughter from a relative’s home in Royal. It’s a small community near Spencer.

An Amber Alert for the girls was issued Tuesday afternoon, shortly after 4 p.m.

Authorities announced at about 9 p.m. the Amber Alert was cancelled because the girls had been found in Sanborn. Sanborn is about 26 miles away from Royal and authorities say the girls were abandoned there by their biological mother. She remains at large. Investigators believe she’s still driving a 2003 maroon-colored Cadillac with an Iowa license plate.

The Amber Alert for the three girls was immediately picked up by broadcasters and other media yesterday, but officials say technical issues delayed delivery of text messages to cell phones for a few hours.