Cops Digging Up Resort Where McCann Girl Vanished

Almost exactly seven years since Madeleine McCann disappeared, Scotland Yard detectives are headed to the Portugal resort where she vanished on vacation with her family—to dig it up. Excavations are planned at three sites near the Praia da Luz resort, sources tell the Daily Mirror, and forensics experts will use radar equipment to search for clues underground. Police have told parents Kate and Gerry McCann they aren't "specifically searching" for a body, and that "they are doing searches as much as to rule scenarios out as much as rule them in," one source says.

Even so, "it will be a heartbreaking and hugely emotional time" for them as they wait to see if a body is found, the source says, adding that police aren't believed to be acting off new information, but are simply checking to see if Portuguese authorities missed anything on their searches. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson wouldn't confirm or deny the report to the Guardian: "We are not going to give a running commentary," he said. "From the beginning of [the operation], we have made it clear that speculation has been unhelpful to the investigation and that continues to be the case. We will not be commenting on any speculation surrounding this investigation." (More Madeleine McCann stories.)