Netherlands: Family found living in cellar for 9 years 'waiting for end of time'

W/S Farmhouse, Ruinerwold
W/S Farmhouse
W/S Farmhouse
M/S Roof of farmhouse
M/S Police talking to woman
M/S Police
M/S Police officer
M/S Police officer and man on bicycle
M/S Police tape and farm road
M/S Cameraman and cars on road
M/S Local resident taking photo with phone
SOT, local resident (German): "I heard it from my family in a report, a text message. Sorry for my German.
Journalist (German): "No problem."
Local resident (German): "I then kept asking about it. Everybody talks about it, of course. I was shopping here and thought, I live nearby and I was cycling alongside to have a look."
Journalist (German): "What was going on there?"
Local resident (German/English): "There was a family there who have lived there in the cellar for years and years. They were self-supporting. They had a vegetable garden. They did everything themselves. I don't know how they managed to do that. I am totally disappointed [surprised], how that can happen. There are neighbours and nobody saw the people, they were missed. They did not go to school. How did they go shopping. I don't know. I don't know."
M/S Police tape *CUTAWAY*
SOT, local resident (German): "They need help. They need psychological help."
Journalist (German): "The father must be a pig, no?"
Local resident (German): "I do not know."
Journalist (German): "Because he must have held them captive?"
Local resident (German): "I don't know if they will be arrested against their..."
Journalist (German): "Against their will"
Local resident (German): "I don't know if they will be arrested against their will or did no one know the people and save them. Where did they stay."
Journalist (German): "Do you think that's sad?"
Local resident (German): "Yes, of course. That does not have to happen."
W/S Canal
SCRIPT
Dutch police launched an investigation on Tuesday after a 58-year-old man and six young adults, aged 18 to 25, were discovered living in the cellar of their farmhouse in the village of Ruinerwold and 'waiting for the end of time', reports say.
Footage shows the farmhouse where the family reportedly lived and police officers at the scene.
According to Dutch media, the alarm was raised after a 25-year-old male visited a local pub and after drinking several beers told the landlord that he and his brothers and sisters had been living for nine years in the farm's cellar and needed help.
"There was a family there who have lived there in the cellar for years and years. They were self-supporting. They had a vegetable garden. They did everything themselves. I don't know how they managed to do that. They need help. They need psychological help," a local resident said at the scene.
Police then arrived at farmhouse where they discovered a hidden stairway behind a cupboard which led down to a basement room where the family was housed. The 58-year-old, who is reportedly not the father of the children, was arrested at the scene and is being investigated after refusing to co-operate.