An Argentine woman has accused her father of sexually abusing her for 30 years and having 10 children with her, including one who killed himself after learning the truth about his "grandfather".

Elvira Gomez (43) said she did not report the alleged abuse until her father Armando Gomez (62) was recently arrested for robbery.

In a story similar to Austria's Josef Fritzl case, Gomez told the Clarin newspaper how she felt "worse than a prisoner for 30 years because I couldn't even talk with anybody. He raped me, beat me for any reason, didn't let me approach other people and always had a loaded gun. He told me, 'I'm going to go to prison, but I'm going to kill you first.'" DNA tests reported last week confirmed that nine of her 10 children were with her father. Tests could not be carried out on her remaining son because he is dead.

Gomez said she did not have the courage to report the abuse until now because "since I was a girl he beat me with whatever he had in his hand: a rod or a machete which cut me all over".

Her mother died when she was 20 months old, she said.

Gomez, who lives in the village of Nicanor Molinos in Santa Fe province, said her eldest son committed suicide before he reached 18 when he learned the truth about his father.