Cellar incest child wakes from coma

AMSTETTEN, Austria, June 10 (UPI) -- Austrian doctors say Kerstin Fritzel, who was held captive by her father her entire life in a cellar dungeon, has awoken from a seven-week induced coma.

The 19-year-old has been reunited with her mother and two brothers who shared her captivity, meeting with them in specially created room made to resemble the dungeon environment she was raised in, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

Kerstin was allowed out of captivity for the first time by her father, Josef Fritzl, on April 19 when she fell seriously ill after suffering a life without ever seeing daylight or access to fresh air, exercise or proper nutrition. She was the first of six children fathered by Joseph Fritzl with his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who is also recovering with her five other children at a different clinic.

The newspaper said medics feared Kerstin would die after suffering multiple organ failure and being connected to a life support machine. Unconfirmed reports surfaced last month saying she had shown signs of life and had opened her eyes.