INVESTIGATORS scoured the banks of a reservoir in southern Portugal yesterday hoping to shed light on the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, which sparked international outcry but few solid leads despite years of inquiries.

Madeleine McCann was three years’ old when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007 while her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

Portuguese television on Tuesday showed an area cordoned off around the Arade reservoir, some 50km from where the child, known as Maddie, went missing.

Portuguese media reported that the police had already combed the site in 2008 but divers had found only animal remains.

But Portuguese, German and British investigators resumed the search this week at the request of German authorities, who have said since 2020 they are convinced the British girl is dead.

They suspect the involvement of a German multiple sex offender who is in prison in Germany for a rape in Portugal.

German judicial authorities said the man in question is Christian Brueckner, considered the chief suspect in the Maddie case after spending several years living in southern Portugal.

According to the magazine Expresso, testimony from a “credible” informer found by German investigators had prompted the new searches near the Arade reservoir.

Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha said local police were searching for a pink blanket or the pyjamas Maddie was wearing the night she disappeared on May 3, 2007, just before her fourth birthday.

After using tracker dogs and probes on Monday, police also deployed a drone to comb the area yesterday before calling a halt to the search, with local media saying investigations were to continue today.

Despite an international manhunt, no trace of McCann has been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.

In June 2020, German prosecutors said they were investigating Brueckner because they had “concrete evidence” he killed Maddie.

Brueckner was also charged last year with three counts of rape and two sexual offences against children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

But German prosecutors have not charged him over Madeleine’s disappearance. – AFP, May 25, 2023.