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The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezers in an flat in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were detected on the end of last week. The cooling units were concealed behind a false wall in the apartment, located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in the month of June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied murder.

Speaking to reporters previously, a representative for the public prosecutor's office stated the brothers were being held on "strong suspicion of intentional killing".

Personal details of those implicated have not been disclosed by law enforcement, in accordance with Austrian law.

Their going missing was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who is based in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Authorities revealed the woman's colleague told them at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations repeatedly.

But when police entered the woman's home, her cellphone was discovered.

A witness also stated hearing a loud noise in the apartment, and shouts of "mama" on the date the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A broader criminal probe was started, with investigators discovering several texts transmitted via the woman's phone—among them a notice of quitting to her employer and messages to the male colleague.

Authorities stated a amount in the thousands was also transferred to the individual.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office stated to media representatives on recently that a storage facility had been leased before the vanishing and a freezer had been positioned inside.

The brothers extracted the freezer from the facility on the day the mother and daughter vanished, Tersch said. And a week later, they obtained another freezer.

Officials state they think this indicates the fatalities were premeditated.

"How they died remains unclear due to the advanced decay of the victims," Tersch stated.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—said the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the victims were expertly concealed and were not found during a earlier inspection.

While the men were detained in June, it was not until 12 November that the elder brother acknowledged an event and to storing the victims. He denies any plan to cause death, officials stated.

At the same time, his younger brother acknowledged a concealment but denied involvement in a murder.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in prisons in two Austrian cities, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative stated the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two individuals and reveals a cruel system".

"Females of all ages are falling victim to homicide due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."