Kate and Gerry McCann are awaiting any updates on the search for their daughter Madeleine which could prove to be a ‘incredibly difficult time’ it has been reported.
Police in Portugal are continuing their hunt for the toddler who was last seen in 2007, and are searching a remote reservoir in the Algarve.
Detectives are said to be hunting for Madeleines pink pyjamas that she was wearing when she vanished 16 years ago, it has been reported.
Reports said officers, who are acting on ‘credible information’, are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance.
Madeleine’s parents are being kept informed of any developments, their spokesman said, with the Met Police also present alongside German and Portuguese officers.
The first major search for Madeleine in nine years comes after German cops discovered photos of prime suspect Christian Brueckner at his self-described ‘little paradise’ in the Portuguese region, it is understood.
The area around the Barragem do Arade reservoir was locked down, and police divers entered the water early on Tuesday.
The site is about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
About 20 officers with rakes and hoe-like tools spread out in a line and began poking and raking the soil close to the Arade dam yesterday.
Police also used a drone to scan the area from above and searched with sniffer dogs on both sides of the water, as they searched for evidence to link the toddler’s disappearance to the German convict.
Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.
German police said in June 2020 that the child was assumed dead and that Brueckner was likely to be responsible. Brueckner has denied any involvement and has not been charged with any crime related to it.
Footage from the site showed officers taking bags away from the reservoir during yesterday afternoon but it was not clear what was inside them. One video showed an officer picking up a bag from a colleague as they drove by in a black Ford SUV.
Last night the McCann’s former spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Mirror the couple were being kept updated.
He said: ‘Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleine’s, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them.’
In the afternoon police appeared to be concentrating their efforts on a peninsula of land jutting into the reservoir.
Two sides of the area have gently sloping banks towards the water, while the third is a sheer cliff, where three white tents could be seen set back from the edge.
The site is popular with campervan users and has BBQ stands and sun loungers scattered around.
Brueckner is known to have driven there frequently in his VW campervan.
Officers using sticks were beating back undergrowth as they inched their way through the woods before fanning down onto the beach to carry on the search.
