Woman held captive, raped, beaten for weeks in Austria: Police

VIENNA - A Romanian woman was imprisoned, raped and repeatedly beaten at a house in Austria for more than a month before escaping when her attacker got drunk, the police said on Tuesday.

Badly hurt with fractured ribs, the 40-year-old woman fled to her former husband's house in the southern Styria area two days ago, the force added. "On the night of June 15, (the attacker) beat the woman so badly that she suffered multiple rib fractures.

"He also threatened to kill her if she would not stay with him," the police said in a statement. "Then the tormenter got drunk ... (and) the victim finally managed to escape from the house," it added.

The Styria force said it had arrested a 49-year-old Romanian man in connection with the imprisonment and attacks.

The case revived memories of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who was sentenced to life in jail in 2009 for keeping his daughter captive for 24 years.