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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/05/madeleine-mccann-police-fourth-day-praia-da-luz-scrubland
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Madeleine McCann: police investigate sewerage system in Praia da Luz | Madeleine McCann: police investigate sewerage system in Praia da Luz |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have opened manholes and begun searching drains in the Portuguese holiday resort where she went missing in 2007. | Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have opened manholes and begun searching drains in the Portuguese holiday resort where she went missing in 2007. |
| A team of British and Portuguese police officers lifted off three manhole covers and used a micro-camera on a long stick to search the underground sewerage system in Praia da Luz on Thursday. | A team of British and Portuguese police officers lifted off three manhole covers and used a micro-camera on a long stick to search the underground sewerage system in Praia da Luz on Thursday. |
| The manholes are around s metres (20ft) from a grave-like hole discovered on Wednesday by officers using ground penetrating radar. Around two dozen journalists, holidaymakers and residents looked on as the work was carried out on a road that borders the six-hectare (15-acre) area of scrubland where the search began on Monday. | |
| Officers continued scouring the patch of overgrown land on Thursday, using two springer spaniels that helped in the search for the murdered Welsh schoolgirl April Jones. | |
| More details have emerged about two key search sites that have become the focus of the investigation over the past three days. | More details have emerged about two key search sites that have become the focus of the investigation over the past three days. |
| One of the sites is a concealed shaft in the ground discovered by detectives beneath a sheet of corrugated iron. Forensic officers wearing protective clothing and face masks examined the site for several hours on Wednesday, erecting a white tent to shield their work from the media. | One of the sites is a concealed shaft in the ground discovered by detectives beneath a sheet of corrugated iron. Forensic officers wearing protective clothing and face masks examined the site for several hours on Wednesday, erecting a white tent to shield their work from the media. |
| Portuguese newspapers reported on Thursday that this site was a disused storage box where children used to play. The shaft, measuring around 150cm x 90cm (5ft x 3ft), was covered by mounds of earth and a corrugated iron sheet, which is thought to have concealed the hole for years. | |
| Another key area of interest for detectives was the grave-like hole, where officers used ground-penetrating radar before erecting a white tent and carrying out digging work. | |
| Under the headline "False grave deceives geo-radar", the newspaper Correia da Manhã reported that a site "with characteristics similar to a grave" was discovered but officers later concluded that it was "not compatible with that of a body". | Under the headline "False grave deceives geo-radar", the newspaper Correia da Manhã reported that a site "with characteristics similar to a grave" was discovered but officers later concluded that it was "not compatible with that of a body". |
| Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the Scotland Yard officer leading the operation, spent about an hour at this site with British officers and Faro's Polícia Judiciária director, Mota Carmo, on Wednesday. | Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the Scotland Yard officer leading the operation, spent about an hour at this site with British officers and Faro's Polícia Judiciária director, Mota Carmo, on Wednesday. |
| Redwood and his team of British investigators arrived at the search site at 9.30am on Thursday, declining to speak to journalists as his accreditation was checked by armed Portuguese police officers guarding the perimeter of the site. | Redwood and his team of British investigators arrived at the search site at 9.30am on Thursday, declining to speak to journalists as his accreditation was checked by armed Portuguese police officers guarding the perimeter of the site. |
| Scotland Yard has formally applied to extend the ground-level searches into next week. The operation was initially expected to end on Friday but progress has been slow in the meticulous search a short distance from where the then three-year-old girl was last seen. The work is being delayed by a need to clear the sites using strimmers and chainsaws. | Scotland Yard has formally applied to extend the ground-level searches into next week. The operation was initially expected to end on Friday but progress has been slow in the meticulous search a short distance from where the then three-year-old girl was last seen. The work is being delayed by a need to clear the sites using strimmers and chainsaws. |
| Madeleine's parents, Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, are being kept informed of developments in the first ground-level search since those conducted immediately after their daughter's disappearance on a family holiday in May 2007. | Madeleine's parents, Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, are being kept informed of developments in the first ground-level search since those conducted immediately after their daughter's disappearance on a family holiday in May 2007. |