Portuguese authorities have conducted searches in three wells, according to witnesses, near where British toddler Madeleine McCann disappeared 13 years ago.
A local law enforcement source confirmed to CNN the searches last Thursday were related to the investigation into the disappearance of McCann, but as far as the source knew, no new information was discovered.
The Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ), officers from the National Guard (GNR) as well as at least one diver from the fire department were involved, witnesses in the village of Budens, near Praia da Luz, told CNN.
McCann was 3 years old when she went missing in 2007 while vacationing with her family in Praia da Luz. Prosecutors in Germany said recently they have evidence that may link a man there to the case, the first major movement in the long-running and prominent case after years of little progress.
The wells are about 15 minutes away from Praia da Luz, on a road that leads up to a semi-secluded beach popular among foreigners, especially among those who travel in camper vans.
The suspect in McCann’s disappearance had lived in Portugal’s Algarve region from 1995 to 2007, and also resided in a house in Praia de Luz, according to the German prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig.
Prosecutors last month said they have evidence that the man, now jailed in Germany for another crime, killed McCann, but not enough to charge him.
CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Stephanie Halasz and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.
