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A 73-year-old Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children, police have said.
Police said Josef Fritzl also confessed to burning the body of a baby that died after birth at the house in Amstetten, in the province of Lower Austria.
Authorities are caring for the woman, now 42, and her six surviving children. Police have released photos of the man's basement which show a concealed network of tiny windowless chambers.
The woman, Elisabeth, disappeared aged 18 on 28 August 1984 when, according to her testimony, her father lured her into the cellar, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.
She is reported to have been made to write a letter which made it look as if she had run away.
The head of the criminal affairs bureau in Lower Austria, Franz Polzer, said Mr Fritzl had admitted sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her.
Mr Polzer said Mr Fritzl had told investigators Elisabeth had given birth to seven children, including twins in 1996, but one died shortly after being born and that he had thrown the body into an incinerator in the building.
The surviving children are now aged between five and 19 years.
The cellar rooms, covering an area of approximately 60 sq m (650 sq ft), were equipped for sleeping and cooking, and with sanitary facilities.
A reinforced concrete door was built into the wall that separated the "dungeon" from the house and electronically locked - the code known only to the suspect, who provided his captives with food and necessities, police said.
Three of the children were kept in the cellar with their mother and had never seen daylight, police told a news conference.
The other three children were adopted or fostered by the suspect, after he forced Elisabeth to write a letter saying she could not look after the baby, according to police.
His wife, Rosemarie, with whom he had seven of their own children, appears to have been unaware of the alleged crimes.
The case came to light when the eldest of the children in the cellar, 19-year-old Kerstin, was seriously ill and had to be taken to hospital.
Kerstin is said to be in a coma in hospital.
The head of the intensive care unit at the Amstetten hospital, Albert Reiter, said the impact of her experiences would eventually become clearer.
"The connection between the effects of 20 years without daylight, the incest and other illnesses, we will research in the coming hours and days," he said.
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Image above: Police said Josef Fritzl admitted sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly.