UK toddler missing in Portugal

2007-05-04 15:15

Lisbon - Portuguese police searched on Friday for a three-year-old British girl who went missing from an upmarket resort in southern Portugal where she was on vacation with her family, officials said.

The girl, Madeleine McCann, was staying at a resort in Praia da Luz, a coastal town 200km south of Lisbon, when she went missing late on Thursday, a British embassy official said on customary condition of anonymity.

She went missing when her parents were at dinner on Thursday night in the resort, said John Hill, the manager of the Mark Warner resort.

He said around 60 staff and guests at the purpose-built complex had searched until 04.30 (local time) while police notified border police, Spanish police and airports.

"It was a very emotional and very frantic night and everyone did a fantastic job of getting involved and trying to search the area," Warner said.

"As you can imagine, Madeleine's parents are distraught and not doing very well at all."

He said there was no physical evidence that the girl had been abducted from the family's rented apartment while they were having dinner at a restaurant 200 yards away.

"It's still questionable as to whether it's an abduction," he said.

Portuguese police launched an investigation but were unavailable for further comment.

- AP