Madeleine McCann police use sniffer canines to comb wooded space throughout reservoir search

Police are utilizing sniffer canines to comb via a wooded space on the banks of a reservoir through the second day of an operation in Portugal as a part of the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

Officers are looking near the Arade dam, situated round 30 miles (50km) from the Algarve resort city of Praia da Luz, the place the British woman went lacking 16 years in the past when she was aged simply three.

Officers had been working with strimmers and heavy equipment to clear undergrowth close to the banks of the reservoir, whereas a fireplace service car and rigid-hull inflatable boat had been on the banks.

Watch search of Arade dam reservoir reside

On Tuesday, police took away a variety of baggage from the search web site and police divers could possibly be seen getting into the water. It shouldn’t be identified what was within the baggage.

They additionally used rakes, spades and pickaxes to scour the bottom, deployed a drone to scan the realm from above and used sniffer canines on each side of the dam, whereas firefighters carried out searches of the reservoir in a dinghy.

A media briefing is anticipated on the finish of the searches on Wednesday or Thursday.

The contemporary operation, headed by Portuguese police and aided by their British and German colleagues, was introduced on Monday.

It is being carried out on the request of German authorities and is probably going linked to images of the reservoir discovered on the hideout of Christian B, a supply advised Reuters.

The convicted youngster abuser and drug vendor was named by German prosecutors final yr as an official suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. He has denied any involvement.

Read extra:
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Vehicles and officers had been first seen on the web site of the reservoir on Monday after stories of the brand new search emerged.

Portuguese media say it’s the fourth seek for Madeleine, following the preliminary one in 2007 within the Algarve space and additional efforts in 2013 and 2014. Another search was held in Germany in 2020.

The reservoir is presently lower than half full on account of a drought affecting Portugal and neighbouring Spain. The space the place police had been working can be under water in years of regular rainfall.

It comes after German police introduced in June 2020 that they believed Madeleine was lifeless and that Christian B was probably accountable.

It is claimed the convicted youngster abuser and drug vendor used to go to the reservoir, allegedly referring to it as “his paradise”.

He is presently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old girl in the identical space of the Algarve area the place Madeleine went lacking.

The waterway was beforehand searched in 2008 after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to test the location.

He claimed to have been tipped off by prison contacts that Madeleine’s physique was within the reservoir, however nothing was discovered.

On the fifteenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance final yr, her dad and mom mentioned it was “essential” to be taught the reality of what occurred to their daughter after she went lacking throughout a household vacation on 3 May 2007.

Kate and Gerry McCann marked Madeleine’s twentieth birthday earlier this month, vowing they might “never give up” the seek for her.