Almost two decades since Madeleine McCann disappeared on holiday, new searches have begun in Portugal.
The then three-year-old vanished on 3 May 2007 after her parents left her asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
Since then, hers has become one of the highest-profile missing person cases in the world, with British, Portuguese and European police forces involved in the investigation.
Follow latest as fresh search launched
On Tuesday, German police began their latest probe, covering a large patch of land near the home of their prime suspect and the McCanns’ holiday apartment.
Here is everything we know about the new investigation.
Where are police searching?
Search teams are scouring more than 20 plots of land east of Praia da Luz, between the Ocean Club holiday resort and the cottage where German authorities’ prime suspect Christian B lived.
Operational tents have been set up in the nearby village of Atalaia.
Sky News’ correspondent Dan Whitehead, who is at the scene, described the area as “rough, wild scrubland”, which makes it “difficult territory to search”.
It sits on the edge of the Ocean Club’s golf course and a new housing estate, he added, and is a 10-minute drive from where the McCanns’ holiday apartment was.
Officers at the scene have not given much away but said they will aim to search “multiple areas a day” and intend to continue until at least Friday 6 June.
Local media reports claim two wells will be looked at, with others saying groundworks, ruins, and water storage tanks will also be searched.
Radar equipment that can search beneath the ground will reportedly be used.
Why is it happening now?
It is not clear what has prompted the latest search and whether any new evidence has come to light.
Authorities are likely to be searching for a body – or any sign that Madeleine McCann was taken there after she was abducted.
Speaking from the scene, Sky’s Dan Whitehead said police are “running out of time”, as Christian B is due to be released from prison in September.
Who is in charge of the investigation?
The current probe was initiated by German police, who in 2020 identified German sex offender Christian B as a prime suspect in the McCann disappearance.
Law enforcement officials in Braunschweig, where he is currently in prison, confirmed the operation had begun early on Tuesday.
“Criminal proceedings are currently under way in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case,” their statement said.
“These measures are being implemented through mutual legal assistance by the Portuguese law enforcement authorities with the support of officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office.”
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In line with the German statement, Portuguese police said they are assisting, having been issued with a “European investigation order” by the German authorities.
The Metropolitan Police, which as well as being the force that presides over London, manages nationwide and counter-terrorism investigations, said they are “aware” of the searches – but not involved.
“We will support our international colleagues if necessary,” the force said.
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Who is Christian B?
Christian B, who cannot be fully identified due to German privacy laws, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the 2005 rape of an elderly woman in the same resort Madeleine disappeared from two years later.
He was arrested in Italy in 2018 and is due to be released from prison in September.
He has not been formally indicted or charged with any offence related to the McCann case and denies any involvement.
In 2022, Portuguese police also named him an ‘arguido’ in their investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, which makes him a formal suspect and gives him the right to silence and appropriate legal representation.
He moved to Portugal in 1995 after serving a two-year prison sentence in Germany for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in 1994. He lived in a cottage in Praia da Luz.
Soon after the world’s media descended on the resort in 2007, he moved back to Germany.
Police have previously claimed he made a 30-minute call from the same area just an hour before Madeleine disappeared.
He is alleged to have confessed on two occasions to kidnapping and sexually abusing the toddler – once to a friend in a German bar in 2017 and again to his prison cellmate in 2020.
There was no suggestion in either alleged confession that he killed her, and he continues to deny any involvement.
When did the last search take place?
German police were last in Portugal on the McCann case in 2023.
They spent a week searching the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, after reports of a “tip-off”.
Christian B is reported to have visited the reservoir regularly, describing it as “paradise”.
It was previously scoured by divers in 2008 after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia ordered them to look into claims Madeleine McCann’s body was there.
Ultimately, the search came to nothing.
