Teams drain well in new hunt for Madeleine clues

Teams have been seen draining a well and clearing areas of dense vegetation near abandoned buildings as the search for Madeleine McCann continues in Portugal.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

German investigators along with Portuguese police officers and fire-fighters are working in a little-developed area of countryside a few miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was last seen in 2007.

Then aged three, she vanished while on holiday with her family in the Algarve resort after her parents went out to dinner and left her sleeping in a room with her toddler twin siblings.

Journalists were being kept a distance away from the search sites yesterday and a no-fly zone was imposed that stopped the used of drones, although some activity could be seen as teams used strimmers, pick-axes, shovels and chainsaws to clear the undergrowth and debris surrounding an abandoned building.

Personnel wore safety gear as they worked in the dense vegetation, and firefighters and police were seen using a yellow hose to drain a well.

Around a dozen officers focused on an abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the team cleared rocks.

The Sun reported that investigators were planning to use radar equip-ment that can scan beneath the ground.