Police in Portugal have ended their search for missing British girl Madeleine McCann after three days. The three-year-old disappeared in 2007 in the south of Portugal, where she was vacationing with her parents, brother and sister.

Results from the latest search have not been released. According to the Portuguese police, the collected material could be handed over to the German authorities for investigation.

Germany had requested the new research because last year, at the request of the Portuguese judiciary, that country designated German perpetrator Christian Bruckner as a suspect. Bruckner is already in prison in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area in Portugal. He denies any involvement in McCann’s disappearance.

In recent days, sniffer dogs have been used to search for traces that might lead to McCann. The Portuguese police were supported by colleagues from Germany and the United Kingdom. Among other things, a reservoir was searched near the Arad River, which is only half full due to drought.

The German public prosecutor said the chance of a hack was small. “Of course there is a certain expectation, but it’s not high,” prosecutor Christian Wolters said before the end of the search. Results are not expected to be announced soon.

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her parents’ holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portuguese Algarve. She was lying in bed while her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. She lived in the same room with her twin brother and sister, who were two years old at the time.

Since her disappearance, she has been widely searched for several times. The Arad River was also searched. Following the search immediately after her disappearance, searches followed up with searches in southern Portugal in 2013 and 2014, and in Germany in 2020.

The investigation into McCann’s disappearance has seen many twists and turns and he has been in the public eye for years. Several books and documentaries have been published on this issue.