CNN
—
Police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann will conduct a new search in Portugal based on a recent tip, German authorities told CNN on Monday.
The new search will take place near the Arade reservoir near the Portuguese town of Silves, about 50 kilometers from the resort where McCann disappeared in 2007, according to CNN affiliate CNN Portugal.
The investigation is expected to begin on Tuesday and last up to two days, CNN Portugal also reported, adding that British and German police will observe Portuguese police’s search.
Authorities will focus on land rather than water, sources also told CNN affiliate CNN Portugal.
Luis Ferreira/Reuters
Vehicles and tents of Portugal’s forensic police seen at the site of a remote reservoir where a new search for the body of Madeleine McCann is to take place, in Silves, Portugal on May 22, 2023.
“This time the searches will not be conducted in the water,” CNN Portugal reported. “Inspectors will look for items that may be of interest to the investigation or rule out hypotheses.”
Madeleine McCann was three years old when she disappeared from her bedroom on May 3, 2007, during a family holiday in the Algarve region, while her parents were having dinner with friends nearby in the resort of Praia da Luz.
In April 2022, Portuguese and German officials named Christian Brückner – a German national who lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 – as an official suspect.
Brückner has denied any involvement in McCann’s disappearance.
The public prosecutor’s spokesman for the German city of Braunschweig said Portuguese police began searching the reservoir following a tip from Germany.
The Arade reservoir was previously searched in 2008, when divers found bones that were later discovered to be animal remains, according to CNN Portugal.
