Dutch family 'waiting for end of time' found in secret room - BBC News

Dutch

police have discovered a

family

who spent nearly a decade hidden away on a remote farm apparently

waiting

for the end of

time

a father and his five adult children were

found

after his eldest son turned up in a local town the children were aged between 18 and 25 none of their birds had been registered with more details here's the BBC's Sylvia Lennon's fence the flat endless countryside of the

Dutch

province of treinta a secluded farmhouse hidden away behind trees and bushes no

one was really sure who lived here or what went on inside these walls it was all a mystery until a young man walked into a local pub drank five beers and asked for help here each provide a bleak heart done I could immediately see he was confused he had long hair and a dirty beard and dirty old clothes it didn't make sense when police arrived they

found

his father and four siblings living in a small space in the house that could be locked and it wasn't known if they were there voluntarily

they'd been there apparently alone for years surviving on homegrown vegetables and livestock it's not clear if any of the children had ever gone to school or even knew that other people existed officers wouldn't confirm speculation the

family

were

waiting

for the end of

time

a dementia in the morning what a deputies did part of our investigation is to find out what the people were doing there are still many questions to which we have no answer a man has been arrested although

it's not believed he's the father the local mayor said the children's mother died some

time

ago the

family

had been taken to an undisclosed location and according to police are being given all care and attention perhaps in the coming days and weeks the truth will be told of their strange hidden life

waiting

for the world to end Sylvia Lenin Spence BBC

news