The new search operation in the Maddie case continued on Thursday for the third day in a row in the south of Portugal. Portuguese police officers, accompanied by colleagues from Germany and Great Britain, resumed their work in the morning at the Arade reservoir not far from the municipality of Silves, as reported by the state news agency Lusa. The search was launched on Tuesday, a good 16 years after the disappearance without a trace of the then almost four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann in the holiday region of Algarve, at the request of German investigators.
As on the previous day, forestry workers were again on duty on Thursday to remove vegetation, as Lusa reported and could be seen on television images. There was no further information on whether clues could be found that could help to clarify the mysterious disappearance of the girl. The Portuguese police have stressed that possible results will only be communicated after the end of the action.
So far, primarily soil samples have been collected for later analysis, the Portuguese state TV station RTP had reported the day before. Dozens of vehicles and specialists were involved in the operation, blue tents served as a coordination center. The search is expected to end on Thursday.
This new search takes place about 50 kilometers northeast of the resort of the seaside resort of Praia da Luz, from which the little Madeleine disappeared without a trace on May 3, 2007. The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig is investigating the case against a German with a criminal record. It is believed that Christian B., now 46 years old, kidnapped and killed the girl. But a body was never found. Authority spokesman Hans Christian Wolters told the German Press Agency only that the action was based on "recent developments".