Vienna  - Hartmut S., the Austrian-born man who kept his 8- year-old son prisoner in South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for 4 years, died Wednesday, Austria's Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday.

The boy was discovered alone at home on November 17, when he managed to ask employees from a business across the road to get him something to eat.

His father, a 68-year-old former airline pilot, had collapsed five days earlier and was taken to hospital.

The man told South African newspaper The Star he didn't allow the boy out for security reasons and he didn't want anyone to know he had a son, whom he reportedly fathered with a domestic worker that had since disappeared.

Whether Hartmut S. was still an Austrian citizen remains unclear, Foreign Ministry spokesman Harald Stranzl said.

The boy is currently in hospital care and is "in good condition, according to the circumstances," Stranzl said. (dpa)
)