Police in Portugal have started searches today (May 23) as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Officers are searching an area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 50km from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
On Tuesday, divers were seen entering the reservoir, and appeared to be concentrating their search at a particular area of the reservoir. Officers had set up two white tents on the bank of the reservoir. A police motor boat has also been sent into the water with two officers on it, the PA news agency reports.
The fresh search in the Algarve is being made at the request of German police and in the presence of British officers, a Policia Judiciaria statement said. It said the prime suspect in her disappearance, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017.
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Investigators believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment. Portuguese officials identified him as a suspect in June 2020 although Brueckner denies involvement in the youngster’s disappearance.
Brueckner is facing charges in Germany over a number of separate sex offences allegedly committed in Portugal during that time. German authorities were expected to release a statement about the search on Tuesday.
Images have emerged showing Portuguese officers walking along dry tracks near the reservoir and sealing off areas with police tape. It is not the first time the reservoir has been searched.
In 2008, Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to check the waterway after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine’s body was in the reservoir. The most recent search in Portugal in relation to her disappearance was in 2014, when British police were given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished.
Earlier this month, Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry issued a short statement on their Find Madeleine Campaign website to mark the anniversary of her disappearance.
They said: “Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction. Still missing… still very much missed.
“It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel. The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough.”
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