Eldest daughter in Austria cellar case rejoins family

Zeillern, Austria: The eldest child of an incestuous relationship between Austrian Josef Fritzl and the daughter he confined for 24 years, has been reunited with her family after recovering from an artificial coma, doctors said.

Doctors also said yesterday the whole family - Fritzl's daughter Elisabeth and the six surviving of seven children she bore him while locked in a cellar - had been moved into a house on hospital premises to promote a normal living environment.

Fritzl, in investigative custody since the case was exposed in April, kept his daughter in a secret, windowless basement under his house in the central Austrian town of Amstetten.

"The reunion of [Elisabeth's eldest daughter] Kerstin with her family a few days ago was a moving moment, and for us the surprising recuperation of Kerstin was a great relief," Berthold Kepplinger, director of the hospital where Fritzl's victims have been treated, told a news conference.

Kerstin was expected to "make a full recovery", he said.

He said Kerstin, 19, who was put into an artificial coma after she suffered cramping fits due to oxygen deficiency and kidney problems, opened her eyes on May 15. She rejoined her family on Sunday.

Three of the children of the incestuous relationship, the youngest of whom is now aged 5 years, were locked up with their mother, while another three were raised by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie as their own. One child died shortly after birth.

Not charged

Prosecutors are investigating the 73-year-old for coercion, rape, incest and the death of the baby, though he has not been charged. Police say he has admitted incarceration and incest.

Rosemarie is not under suspicion and is with the rest of the family at the residence on the hospital grounds in Amstetten.

The case came to light two months ago after Kerstin fell seriously ill and was brought to the hospital by Fritzl.