Austrian hostage girl tried to call for help - TV

VIENNA, Sep 6 (Reuters) The Austrian girl held captive in an underground cell for eight years told how she tried to signal for help with her eyes when she met other people during occasional outings with her captor.

But her attempts went unnoticed, Natascha Kampusch -- the now 18-year-old who escaped her ordeal last month -- told Austrian television's Christoph Feurstein in an interview due to go on air today, Feurstein said.

''There were moments in the interview that really gave me the creeps,'' Feurstein told ORF's late news show yesterday after shooting the interview.

''She told me today she made eye contact with people time and again and wanted to signal them, 'Please help me!','' Feurstein said. ''And nobody reacted.'' Austria is gripped by anticipation of the three interviews with Kampusch all due to be published today. Apart from state channel ORF, she talked to journalists from daily newspaper Kronen-Zeitung and weekly magazine News.

Her remarks are set to amplify soul-searching in the Alpine nation already wondering how this extraordinary crime could have gone on unnoticed for eight years in a sedate commuter town outside Vienna.

A colleague of Wolfgang Priklopil, her captor, who met her during one of the outings in July, said last week she had looked ''happy'' at the time. A neighbour said he had thought she was Priklopil's girlfriend.

Kampusch dashed to freedom on Aug. 23 when Priklopil was distracted from watching her vacuum his BMW automobile.

The communications technician had abducted her on her way to school and kept her locked up in a small, windowless cell beneath his garage. He killed himself by jumping under a train a few hours after her escape.

So far, Kampusch's only public comment was a statement read by a psychiatrist at a news conference last week. The only pictures available show her as a 10 year-old before her abduction.

While Kampusch's media advisor had said on Monday she would not be recognisable in the interview, Feurstein said she had eventually made the decision to allow her image be shown.

Feurstein said Kampusch was intelligent and self-confident and had plans for the future, such as completing her education.

''She was very energetic, very active, full of wishes and dreams for the future,'' he said. ''She had been looking forward to the interview and did it incredibly well.'' ORF will broadcast the interview at 8.15 pm Austrian time (1815 GMT). German TV station RTL will show it an hour later. Other international stations have to wait until 2200 GMT. News and Kronen-Zeitung are expected to hit newsstands at 4.30 pm.

REUTERS DH PM0505