Thanks for following our live coverage as police began a new search for Madeleine McCann at a reservoir in Portugal.

We're expecting the search to last a few more days and it will span across at least four areas around the Arade reservoir.

Today's writers were Emily McGarvey, Malu Cursino and Laura Gozzi, and Rob Corp and Brandon Livesay were the editors.

For all the latest on the search for Madeleine McCann, read our news story here.

Image source, PA Media

We're pausing our live coverage shortly but before we do, here's a reminder of the key developments from today:

• Police are searching a reservoir in Portugal as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
• German police requested the search as the area was visited by Christian Brueckner when Madeleine disappeared - the 45-year-old German man was made a formal suspect in 2022
• Early this morning, police teams set up tents around the Arade dam, about 50km (31 miles) from where the toddler went missing in Praia da Luz in 2007
• The Metropolitan Police said its officers were in Portugal so they could inform Madeleine's family of any developments. German and Portuguese officers are also present
• Officers in boats went out into the reservoir and sniffer dogs worked their way along the bank
• More than 20 officers are digging beside the reservoir and a number of bags have been taken away from the search area, although it is not known what is in them
• There are reportedly four areas of interest to be searched this week

A little earlier we heard from Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command Centre.

He says the new search appears to be much more serious than "a needle in the haystack search over a reservoir".

Gamble tells the BBC that Germany's role in leading this investigation, with the support of Portuguese authorities, is "key".

You can watch his interview in the video above.

The BBC's Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford is at the Arade reservoir, where the search for Madeleine McCann is currently underway.

Watch the video above to see what's happening on the ground in Portugal.

Nicholas Springate
Senior Foreign Affairs Journalist

More than 20 officers are digging beside the reservoir in Portugal. Most are members of the Portuguese police.

Some officers are dressed in dark clothes, others in white overalls. A number of bags have been taken away from the area they are searching.

It is not known what is in them.

It is reported that there are four areas of interest to be searched this week.

Image source, Getty Images

While we wait for the next update from Portugal, let's take a quick look at what has happened so far today.

• Police are searching the area around the Arade dam reservoir in southern Portugal
• The dam is about 50km (31 miles) from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007

• The search team have launched a small inflatable boat from the shore of the reservoir as they begin the search. Sniffer dogs have also been deployed
• Police divers were seen in the area
• The operation is being led by German police who are looking for evidence to link Madeleine's disappearance to Christian Brueckner - a 45-year-old German national who was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022
• Portuguese police are helping with the search because there are legal restrictions on German detectives operating abroad. British officers are also present
• There is a large media presence in the area, with reporters and photographers gathered near the reservoir

We've been talking about an area of southern Portugal all morning connected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and today's search by police.

As this map shows, the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz where Madeleine was last seen in May 2007 is about 50km (31 miles) from the inland Arade dam reservoir that is now being searched by Portuguese police at the request of German prosecutors:

Image source, .

Brandon Livesay
Live reporter

Right now, police are combing an area around a reservoir near where Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007.

This same dam was also searched in 2008, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers after he heard a tip-off from criminal contacts.

This week's search for the missing British girl was somewhat unexpected, with the last official search for her taking place back in 2014.

That's when British detectives used radar, drones, sniffer dogs and forensic teams to examine a 15-acre patch of scrubland. The search went on for days but no evidence was found.

Image source, Getty Images

The main searches took place in the days and months after she vanished - in May of 2007.

Police, resort staff and hundreds of volunteers helped search when Madeleine was first reported missing from the resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve. Sniffer dogs were brought in to search the McCann's apartment and rental car two months later, in July.

Image source, FIND MADELEINE CAMPAIGN/PA

Portuguese media have been reporting on the latest developments in the search for Madeleine McCann.

Daily Correio da Manhã, external says that "advanced technology" will be used in the search and that the area near the reservoir will be excavated.

Expresso , externalsays that the search by the reservoir will continue until at least Wednesday, while news agency SIC, external reports that the German main suspect Christian Brueckner often said the area was "his little paradise", which led the authorities to resume the search there.

"Any biological traces have likely disappeared because of the waterways in the area, but investigators could be looking for other elements, such as objects or clothes that could serve as evidence," SIC says.

Image source, Reuters

Around police 12 officers with sniffer dogs have been seen moving along the bank of the reservoir in Portugal as part of the search for Madeleine McCann, PA Media news agency reports.

A rigid-hull inflatable boat could be seen on the water as divers worked in the reservoir, inland from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing 16 years ago.

Two blue tents have been put up in one location, while the area that seems to be central to the search is around one mile away.

If you're just joining us or need a recap, here's what's been happening in this new search for Madeleine McCann:

• The prosecutor's office in the German city of Braunschweig confirmed a search was taking place this morning in Portugal as part of the investigation into the case of Madeleine McCann, but did not say why it was taking place
• The Portuguese police are helping with the search because there are legal restrictions on German detectives operating abroad. British officers are also present
• Police divers were seen entering the water at the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal this morning, around 50km (31 miles) from Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing in 2007
• The search team have launched a small inflatable boat from the shore of the reservoir as they begin the search
• The operation is being led by German police looking for evidence to link Madeleine's disappearance to Christian Brueckner - a 45-year-old German national who was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.

Portuguese police have set up an operation around a reservoir inland from where Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007.

It's the first formal development in the case in Portugal in several years.

A fire brigade spokesperson said police were preparing to search at a dam about 50km (31 miles) from the beach resort where Madeleine went missing.

Damien McGuinness
Germany correspondent, reporting from Berlin

German state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has confirmed to me on the phone this morning that the search of the reservoir in Portugal was requested by German officials as part of their investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and the allegations against Christian Brueckner.

Wolters said Portuguese police were helping with the search because of legal restrictions for German police to operate abroad and British officers were also present.

He said German officials would not give any further information about the search.

We've just received a short statement from the prosecutor's office in the German state of Braunschweig. It reads:

"As part of the investigation into the case of Madeleine McCann there are currently measures related to the criminal process taking place in Portugal.

"The measures are being implemented... by the Portuguese law enforcement authorities with the support of officers of the [German] Federal Criminal Police Office.

"Further information on the background will not be released at this time," the statement concludes.

Former police officer Jim Gamble, who worked on the original Madeleine McCann investigation, has told the BBC that the German authorities have been "absolutely adamant" that their suspect is the right person and "they've gone further to state that they believe Madeleine has died, and that she was killed in Portugal."

"Given that they are pursuing these lines of inquiry in such a positive and direct way, I would make the assumption that this is going to be a very deliberate, direct and focused search," Gamble said.

He also said that he believes German police have "more information than they're sharing with the public, so ultimately they will be trying to corroborate issues they have already hypothesised".

As we've been reporting, this latest search for Madeleine McCann is because German national Christian Brueckner has been named as an official suspect in her disappearance. It has been reported he frequented the lake which is being searched.

He was driving a yellow and white VW Westfalia campervan in southern Portugal which was reportedly seen near the Praia da Luz resort on 3 May 2007. Madeleine went missing on the same day.

Witnesses reportedly told the police they saw a man described like him - about 6ft tall, slim and white with blond hair- with a toddler near the resort the same night.

German police also said his mobile phone records showed he was in the Praia de Luz area at the time of her disappearance.

Brueckner claimed he was with a German woman “miles away” that night and has denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

Brueckner, who was born in Germany in 1976, moved to Portugal in his late teens.

He was jailed in Germany in April 2022 for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman in 2005 in the same resort in Portugal.

Daniel Sandford
Home Affairs correspondent, reporting from Portugal

Even before 9am local time (08:00 GMT) the Arade reservoir was a hive of police activity.

The Portuguese Judiciary Police, who are co-ordinating the search, have set up a base on the western side overlooking a promontory.

These are the blue tents on the photographs of the scene. Portuguese, German and British officers can be seen around the tents having their morning briefings.

Closer to the dam itself a dive team is parked up. There, a rigid hull inflatable boat is waiting on the beach to take people out into the reservoir.

Madeleine McCann had been on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, in Portugal's Algarve, when she went missing on 3 May 2007.

Her parents went for dinner with a group of friends at a restaurant in the complex. Madeleine and her younger brother and sister - twins - stayed in the apartment, 100 yards away.

The adults had devised a rota system to check on all their children during the evening. When it was the turn of Kate McCann, she discovered her daughter, Madeleine, was gone.

Police were called and staff and guests at the complex searched for her until daybreak.

Border police and airport staff were put on alert and hundreds of volunteers joined efforts to find Madeleine in the following days.

Read the full timeline here.

Image source, .