The German prosecutor leading the Madeleine McCann investigation said a major search was underway at a reservoir on the Algarve because of a “tip-off.”
Christian Wolters, Braunschweig state prosecutor, said the operation has been instigated "on the basis of certain tips."
But Mr Wolters said he could not go into any more detail at this stage.
From first light today, large numbers of police and other specialist search teams began gathering at a makeshift staging area next to the Arade dam.
The area is about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished without trace in 2007.
The reservoir is said to have been a favourite spot of Christian B, the prime suspect in the three year old’s abduction and suspected murder.
Just before 8am, a fire and rescue service rigid inflatable was visible, testing the waters for the dive teams who’ll spend the next few days in a targeted search of an area to the west side of the reservoir.
Throughout the morning, as more police and other officials arrived at the Dam, they were briefed in specially erected blue tents, before being deployed to their search grids.
Officers are using ground penetrating radar to search a spot at the west side of Arade reservoir.
Sixteen years on from the disappearance of Madeleine from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, there is still no concrete evidence of what happened to her.
It is understood that Christian B lived for a while in a commune only about seven miles from the dam
GB News
Throughout the morning, as more police and other officials arrived at the Dam, they were briefed in specially erected blue tents,
GB News
But both Portuguese and German police are convinced convicted sex offender Christian B is the man responsible for her abduction.
He is currently serving seven years in a German prison for the rape of an American tourist in Praia da Luz two years before Madeleine’s disappearance.
About half a mile from the staging area, another group of tents are visible in woodland just back from the shoreline.
It was the German authorities who requested this latest search, but so far they have given no reason for this major new operation miles from anywhere.
It is understood that Christian B lived for a while in a commune only about seven miles from the dam.
Reports suggest German police may have recovered a video of the prime suspect, which he filmed around the dam in recent years.
This is the first major search operation on the Algarve for almost a decade, since the Metropolitan police asked for a series of fresh digs around the Praia da Luz area in 2014.
A small group of Scotland Yard detectives are out in Portugal this week, as official observers.
This week’s operation involves groups of searchers on foot, while dive teams comb an area close to the shoreline.
The level of the reservoir has dropped some 15 feet in places over recent months, allowing specialist teams to search deeper down the shoreline.
There is always intense public interest anytime there are developments in this more than decade-and-a-half long mystery.
Madeleine McCann’s parents, who have seen many false dawns in this protracted investigation, are being kept informed about the progress of this latest search.
