24 years in a dungeon.

Human being is the only species who can be cruel to each other, even to their own children.

AUSTRIAN police have arrested a 73-year-old man accused of locking his daughter in his cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.

A prosecution spokesman said Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, had accused her father, Josef, of "massive crimes".

DNA tests are being conducted on the woman and six surviving children.

It is the third time in recent years that Austria has been stunned by tales of children locked away by parents or adults they know.

According to police, Ms Fritzl told investigators her father put her to sleep with an anaesthetic on August 28, 1984, handcuffing her in a locked basement.

Officially, she was declared a missing person, with Interpol opening an investigation.

A letter was sent to her parents asking that they stop searching for her and local authorities concluded she had been seized by a religious sect.

She told police she spent years imprisoned in an underground chamber beneath the family home near the eastern town of Amstetten.

MS Fritzl told detectives she was "regularly abused" by her father and their incestuous relationship produced seven children.

All the children appear to have been born in grim captivity, but investigators said one child, a twin, died shortly after birth. Police said the body was subsequently burned.

All the children appear to have been born in grim captivity, but investigators said one child, a twin, died shortly after birth. Police said the body was subsequently burned.

Three boys and three girls, now aged between five and 20, survived. Mr Fritzl legally adopted two boys and one girl.

Mr Fritzl is said to have told his wife, Rosemarie, and local authorities that three babies had been left by Elisabeth on their doorstep, in different years.

Each delivery was accompanied by a letter purportedly signed by Elisabeth saying she could not support the child because she already had others to care for.

The trio went to school as normal, seemingly unaware that their mother and three other siblings (a girl of 19, and boys at 18 and five) were trapped underground.

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