The man who held a girl captive for more than eight years in Austria spent some of his last hours in a panicked state, driving around Vienna with a friend, before he committed suicide, a friend said today.

Austrian investigators were today due to resume questioning of the kidnap victim who escaped a week ago after being held captive for more than eight years by a man who committed suicide hours after she slipped to safety.

Austrian police today said they were "quite sure" a young woman found this week was Natascha Kampusch who vanished on her way to school on March 2, 1998, when she was 10.

Austrian authorities today said a young woman found near Vienna had been identified as a girl who went missing more than eight years ago.