LAGOS, Portugal — Authorities investigating the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann conducted searches near an abandoned rural building in southern Portugal on Tuesday. This marks the beginning of new investigations close to the holiday resort where she was last seen 18 years ago.

The case captured global attention for years, with reported sightings of McCann emerging as far away as Australia. Additionally, books and TV documentaries have been produced regarding her disappearance.

German investigators, alongside Portuguese police officers and firefighters, engaged in searches in the countryside several miles from the Praia da Luz resort. It was here that the 3-year-old vanished from her bed during a family vacation on May 3, 2007.

The teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. Firefighters pumped water out of a well.

Almost two decades on, investigators in the U.K., Portugal and Germany are still piecing together what happened on the night the toddler disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends outside.

Portuguese police said Monday that detectives were acting on a request from a German public prosecutor as they carry out “a broad range” of searches this week in the area of Lagos, in southern Portugal.

The main suspect is a German national identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of the child’s disappearance. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

The last time police resumed searches in the case was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries took part in an operation searching near a dam and a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort.

McCann’s family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month, and expressed their determination to keep searching.

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