Austria: Man claims mother locked him in basement for months

BERLIN – Police in Austria say they are investigating claims by a 45-year-old man that he was locked in a basement for months by his mother.

Vienna police said Thursday that the man was discovered by firefighters who had been called to the house due a “sanitary mishap.”

The man, who was in poor health, was taken to hospital. On the way there he told firefighters that his 77-year-old mother had locked him in the basement since April.

The woman is now being investigated on suspicion of false imprisonment.

In 2009, Austrian Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment for keeping his daughter imprisoned in a basement for 24 years, repeatedly raping her, and for the negligent homicide of one of the seven children she gave birth to.