Man held after Dutch family found locked away in secret farmhouse room

An animal ambulance is seen at the site of a remote farm where a family spent years locked away in a cellar, according to Dutch broadcasters' reports, in Ruinerwold, Netherlands October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Eva Plevier

RUINERWOLD, Netherlands (Reuters) - A man who paid the rent on a Dutch farmhouse where six members of a family were found locked away in a secret room will appear in court on Thursday on charges of unlawful detention and harming others' health, prosecutors said.

Five siblings, estimated to be aged between 18 and 25, and a man they identified as their ailing father were found at the farm near Ruinerwold, a village in the province of Drenthe where they had apparently lived in isolation for years.