Free after 8 years

An abducted Austrian teenager held captive for eight years has said fear of her captor prevented her from trying to escape her basement prison.

In her first TV interview since escaping, Natascha Kampusch said she was "distraught and angry" in her cell.But, she said, her captor had told her he would go on a killing spree if she tried to escape.

Millions of Austrians are thought to have watched Ms Kampusch's interview with state broadcaster ORF.

Ms Kampusch fled the basement prison where she had been held for eight years since her abduction as a 10-year-old in late August.

Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide after her escape.

Austrian weekly News magazine and daily Kronen Zeitung newspaper carried the first recent photos of her on Wednesday.

Ms Kampusch frequently shut her eyes against the bright camera lights during her 40-minute interview with Austrian TV.ORF said her eyes were sensitive after being confined in dark conditions for so long.

She describes fearing she would go "crazy" when she was first led to the tiny cell where she would remain for the next eight years.

She said she threw water bottles against the wall and tried to make as much noise as possible to alert her neighbours.

Appearing composed, if somewhat delicate, in front of the cameras, Ms Kampusch said she dreamt constantly of escaping."I promised myself I would grow older, stronger and sturdier to be able to break free one day," she said.

However, she said, she feared her abductor's response if she tried to escape."I wasn't scared [for myself] - I love freedom and for me death is the ultimate freedom, the redemption from him," she said."But he said all the time he would first of all kill the neighbours, then me and then himself."