Diggers brought in to help latest Madeleine McCann search in Portugal

Diggers and specialist equipment have been brought in as teams resumed their search for Madeleine McCann 18 years after she disappeared from an apartment complex in Portugal.

On Wednesday authorities used hedge trimmers to clear vegetation and are expected to continue the search around disused buildings and wells.

Madeleine was three when she disappeared while on holiday with her parents on 3 May 2007, sparking a Europe-wide police investigation that has become one of the highest-profile missing persons cases.

This search will continue until Friday across a 21 sq km (8 sq miles) site between where Madeleine vanished and where the German investigators' prime suspect had been staying at the time.

• Timeline: Madeleine McCann disappearance

Madeleine's case was initially handled by the Portuguese authorities with the aid of the Metropolitan Police, but German investigators took the lead in 2020, when they identified German national Christian Brückner as their prime suspect.

The 48-year-old is currently serving a sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. He is due to be released in September, but that could be pushed back to early 2026 if he does not pay a fine he owes.

The search site - which covers the municipality of Lagos near to Praia da Luz - is located around 3.5 miles from the Ocean Club resort, where Madeleine and her family had been staying.

PA Media

On Wednesday morning, many vehicles carrying dozens of people in uniform and plain clothes arrived on the site, which is focused on the edge of the town of Atalaia. Many of them had their faces covered.

Search teams wearing protective gear could be seen using a digger to remove rubble from one of the disused buildings.

Roads leading up to the area - which is large and mostly scrubland - have been closed since Monday.

A Portuguese fire engine and four vehicles carrying German police were seen arriving

The focus on the first day of the search was on what appears to be an abandoned farm with many derelict and graffitied buildings, empty bottles and litter.

Reuters

A white van and large blue tent can be seen a short distance from what looks to be an old farmhouse, the base of search operations.

The area is in the middle of a tourist region.

A few hundred metres north is a golf club and resort, while in the opposite direction are some steep cliffs leading to the sea. Along the cliffs, is a hiking trail along the cliffs known as Trilho dos Pescadores, or the Fisherman's trail.

The last search took place two years ago and was focused around a reservoir to the north-east of where the British toddler was staying. Brückner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, was found to have photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.

German authorities suspect Brückner of murder and fear that if he is not charged with anything new he will disappear following his release. British police continue to treat the case as a missing persons investigation.

Brückner has repeatedly denied any involvement.

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German police have a European warrant, which has been approved by Portuguese prosecutors, will allow them to conduct searches on private land. This week's search is expected to span across 21 different plots of land.

Officials have not disclosed if they are conducting this latest search in Portugal based on any new information, making it appear as if they are taking one last look in places where evidence or a body could have been hidden

Portuguese authorities have also named Brückner as a formal suspect, or "arguido". They said they will hand over any evidence seized in the latest search to German authorities.

The Met Police, which said this week that it was aware of the searches being carried out by German police in Portugal, continues its investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

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The case, known as Operation Grange, has been ongoing since 2011 and has cost around £13.3m to date.

On the night Madeleine disappeared, her parents had been at dinner with friends at a restaurant a short distance away from the ground-floor apartment she and her younger twin siblings were asleep in.

Her mother, Kate, discovered she was missing at around 22:00.

A German documentary in 2022 found evidence that Brückner occasionally worked at the Ocean Club as a handyman, while German prosecutors have also linked his mobile phone data and a car sale to their case against him.

Madeleine's parents marked the 18th year anniversary of her disappearance last month, saying their "determination to leave no stone unturned is unwavering".