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SEARCHES FOR MADELEINE are to resume in Portugal today, near where the little girl was last seen in 2007.
Yesterday, fresh searches for Madeleine began, as teams drained a well and cleared areas of dense vegetation near abandoned buildings in the countryside, a few miles from Praia da Luz.
Madeleine, then aged three, vanished while on holiday with her family in the Algarve resort, after her parents went out to dinner and left her sleeping in a room with her toddler twin siblings.
German investigators and Portuguese police officers, and firefighters took part in the searches on Tuesday, as teams used strimmers, shovels and chainsaws to clear the undergrowth and debris around an abandoned building, and drained a well using a yellow hose.
About a dozen officers focused on one abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the search team cleared large rocks.
The Sun reported that investigators are also planning to use radar equipment that can scan beneath the ground.
It has been variously reported that teams will look where trenches were dug near the resort at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, at wells, ruins and water tanks, and that there are plans to examine 21 pieces of land.
The search is being carried out at the request of the German federal police, as they look for evidence that could implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
He is due to be released from jail in September if no further charges are brought.
In October last year, Brueckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
About 30 German police, including forensic experts, are expected to take part in the search, along with Portuguese officers, which is expected to last until Friday.
The UK Metropolitan Police said they were aware of the operation, but that British officers would not be present.
German investigators and Portuguese officers last carried out searches in 2023, near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz.
Brueckner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.
It was previously searched in 2008, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it, after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine’s body was there.
British police were later given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished in 2014.
Last month Madeleine’s family, who are from Rothley in Leicestershire in the UK, marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, describing her as “beautiful and unique”, before her 22nd birthday, and vowed to continue the search.
A statement from her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and the family said: “The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to ‘leave no stone unturned’ is unwavering.
“We will do our utmost to achieve this.”
In April, ministers in the UK approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.
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