Austrian police said today they have found the basement prison in which a 73-year-old man is suspected to have kept and abused his daughter for 24 years.

"A few minutes ago, the suspect broke his silence for the first time and told officers about the little hidden door in the workshop which can only be opened by an electrical mechanism and to which only he knew the code," Franz Polzer, head of the criminal investigations unit in the province of Lower Austria, told broadcaster ORF.

Investigators managed to enter the dungeon after the suspect disclosed the code, finding a small alleyway and uneven floor, which showed that the windowless dungeon had been added on, said Mr Polzer.

"There is not only one, but a number of rooms: One room to sleep in, one to cook, and there are also sanitation facilities," said Mr Polzer.