Austria investigating possible second Kampusch abductor

Austria has reopened a criminal investigation into the kidnapping of schoolgirl Natascha Kampusch to determine whether more people were involved, officials said today.

Kampusch was abducted on her way to school in 1998 at the age of 10 and was held in a cell beneath a house garage until her dash to freedom in August 2006. Her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, 44, committed suicide hours after her escape.

Independent investigators concluded in June that Austrian police failed to pursue leads that could have snared Kampusch's abductor quickly and averted her long ordeal.

"The issue now is whether there was more than one kidnapper, (based on) indications from the Kampusch investigative report," Justice Ministry spokesman Thomas Geiblinger said, explaining why Justice Minister Maria Berger ordered the case reopened.

The report said another schoolgirl had reported seeing two men in a white-panel truck into which she saw Kampusch forcibly bundled the day she vanished, but this lead was never followed up for undetermined reasons.

Austria's parliament voted in March to investigate the performance of the Interior Ministry because of issues including alleged mistakes in the handling of the Kampusch kidnapping.

Kampusch, now 20, said earlier this year she was dismayed by media reports of police incompetence in her case but is not known to have take any legal action in pursuit of compensation.

She turned TV chat show host in June when her debut programme aired on national television. Kampusch has said she also wants to work on charity projects.

Her case has been overshadowed since April by the arrest of a 73-year-old Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, for confining his daughter Elizabeth for 24 years in a cellar under his house where she gave birth to seven of his children.