A young woman in Vienna who was a schoolgirl when she vanished more than eight years ago, told police she had been kidnapped and kept in a small cellar for years. Her alleged kidnapper committed suicide after she was found.
Armin Halm, spokesman for Austrian's federal police, said yesterday that Natascha Kampusch had been identified by a scar on one of her upper arms dating back to an operation she had when she was younger. Results of a DNA test were expected later yesterday, but "we are quite sure it's her," Halm said.
The discovery could bring closure to one of the biggest mysteries in recent Austrian history.
Kampusch, then aged 10, vanished in Vienna on her way to school on March 2, 1998. Her disappearance triggered a massive search that extended into Hungary.
On Wednesday afternoon, police said they found the young woman in a yard in a residential area northeast of Vienna. The woman, who was identified late on Wednesday by her father, mother and half-sister, told police that she had been kidnapped and held prisoner by a man, Halm said.
Halm said police found Kampusch's passport in the house in Strasshof, Lower Austria, where she was allegedly kept.
The alleged kidnapper committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in Vienna, Halm said.
He has been identified by Austrian media as 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, a technician. A DNA analysis is under way to confirm his identity, Austrian television reported.
The broadcaster reported that an 80-year-old man found the woman, whom he described as very thin and pale. She was running and screaming and in a state of panic when he saw her, said the man, who was not identified.
Kampusch's sister said in remarks broadcast on Austrian television that her mother almost had a breakdown when police notified her on Wednesday afternoon, adding that her mother always held onto the hope that her daughter would come back one day.
"She always said she was still alive," said the sister, identified by the broadcaster as Sabina Sirny.
Investigators say the woman had been examined by a doctor and that she did not have signs of injuries.
Still, police are investigating whether she was beaten or sexually abused.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia