Fritzl dungeon daughter, 19, wakes up from coma

The 19-year-old daughter of Austria's "dungeon monster" Josef Fritzl has woken from her coma, it was reported today.

Doctors feared that Kerstin, born to Mr Fritzl and his daughter Elisabeth during her 24 years in incestuous captivity, would die when her organs failed earlier this month.

But she is understood to have shown flickers of life over the weekend, and her family has reported that she had opened her eyes.

A source close to the victims in the psychiatric clinic where they are recovering said: "Elisabeth and family are very happy, but they know they mustn't get their hopes up too high.

"Kerstin's incredibly fragile. She'll be in bed a long time  -  probably months."

Kerstin was freed when Fritzl, 73, released her and took her to hospital when she collapsed in his cellar home in Amstetten last month.

Elisabeth, 42, who had been imprisoned by her father in the cellar since she was 18, is recovering with her five other children in a separate clinic near the hospital.

Kerstin was freed on 19 April after she fell unconscious after contracting a serious kidney infection.

Kerstin was placed on a life support machine at the  Amstetten General  Hospital.

She was  hooked up to a respirator and dialysis machine, after both her lungs and kidneys stopped working properly.  

Doctors finally decided to place her in an artificial coma as her condition  worsened.

But with the improvement in her health doctors are now starting to try and wake her up.

Dr Albert Reiter, who is leading the team caring for Kerstin said that physically she was now in "reasonable  shape."  

One serious worry, however, is that severe cramps the infection caused might have left her with a shortage of oxygen - and resulting brain damage.

Dr Reiter added: "The medication keeping her in an  artificial coma is being slowly reduced.

"This is the first phase in the process of eventually waking  her up. How long this will take is something we cannot  say."  

The news comes as a team of teachers was put to  work at the nearby Amstetten Mauer clinic where the rest of Fritzl cellar family are living.

The teachers are ensuring that the three children who had grown up above ground stay up to speed with their schoolwork and that the two cellar boys are tested and evaluated to see when they need to start learning.

Although the confined spaces at the clinic have not  troubled the three from the cellar, Monica , Lisa and Alexander are finding the enclosed atmosphere difficult to handle.