Police resumed their search of a remote reservoir in Portugal on Tuesday as the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues.
Dozens of officers descended on the Barragem do Arade reservoir to find the toddler who went missing 16 years ago from an apartment complex on the Algarve.
Pictures from the barren site show members of the emergency services with their faces covered in bandanas as they search the sparse grassland with sniffer dogs. Others were seen with rakes and metal rods preparing to search the ground.
A rigid-hull inflatable boat is being used by officers to search the reservoir and a no-fly zone has been implemented allowing only police drones to buzz overhead.
As the map below shows, the site of the search is around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, the flats in the municipality of Lagos, where Madeleine disappeared on 3 May, 2007.
At the time, her parents Kate and Gerry McCann had left their children asleep in their holiday apartment while they dined with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. Nothing was amiss when Mr McCann checked on the youngsters just after 9pm that night, but when his wife went back at about 10pm she found Madeleine missing.
It is not the first time the Barragem do Arade reservoir has been searched, however.
In 2008, 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.
A brief statement from the prosecutor’s office in the German city of Braunschweig confirmed the search but did not reveal why it was taking place. Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters told reporters that investigators were acting on the basis of “certain tips” but would not give further details.
The Barragem do Arade is located in the municipality of Silves, in the middle of the Algarve, in southern Portugal.
The remote position within the municipality makes it a popular area for people walking, camping overnight or using the reservoir for canoeing or other water activities.
It is 16 miles from the municipality’s capital, also called Silves, which is a historic small town popular with tourists.
Like much of the Algarve, the area is well-known for its fine wines which are dotted around the area and popular for day-trips.
The town of Silves is exactly 30 miles away from where Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, which is a quieter part of the municipality, but only a few miles from the large city of Lagos, which is situated on the coastline.
Investigators believe convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in the area.
Brueckner, who has denied involvement in Madeleine‘s disappearance, was first identified as a suspect by German investigators.
