Portuguese police are reportedly searching an area 15 kilometres from the Ocean Club, the resort in Praia da Luz from where four-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared six weeks ago.
Statements on various television channels both here in Portugal and in the UK suggest that sniffer dogs have been brought in to assist in the search, but no sighting has been made of them by local media.
Gerry McCann has stated in a blog that he is “very disappointed” that the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf chose to print an anonymous letter which purports to contain knowledge of the whereabouts of Madeleine’s body.
Mr McCann went on to say “We feel strongly that this was an irresponsible piece of journalism and even if it were true is insensitive and cruel.”
Portuguese Detectives are investigating the content of the letter, which was accompanied by a map showing a cross and two question marks, with the writing “vermoedelijke vindplaats Madeleine” – the place where Madeleine can probably be found.
Whilst the Portuguese police have described the information and map as “vague”, on Wednesday evening (June 13) plain-clothes police carried out searches in the Arão village, where they spent over an hour looking at fields, an area which locals claim has not been searched before.
It is believed that the area near the Barragem da Bravura reservoir is the main focus today (June 14). Parts of this area have already been searched earlier in the hunt for missing Madeleine.
Any search in the hinterland of the Algarve will be difficult and will require considerable manpower. Broken dry-stone walls, stone remains of old buildings and thick undergrowth will all hamper any search as may the unusually inclement weather.
