Portuguese authorities confirmed late Thursday that the search has been completed in the case of Madeleine McCann, a British girl who was 3 years old when she disappeared in 2007 from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve region.

The search for the Arade dam reservoir and its surroundings in southern Portugal”resulted in the collection of some material”, which will be analyzed by experts, Portuguese police said in a statement, but there was no indication that anything conclusive was found. The search was motivated by a request from the German authorities.

Madeleine’s case had captivated and horrified the British public, and soon much of Europe, after she disappeared 16 years ago while on holiday with her family in the Portuguese seaside town of Praia da Luz.

Soon Madeleine’s face was on the front pages of the British tabloid press, her bright blue-green eyes and blonde haircut instantly recognizable amid endless speculation about her whereabouts and who might be responsible for her disappearance.

Divers and police with sniffer dogs had been searching the reservoir and surrounding areas, some 50 miles from Praia da Luz.

Madeleine, who was days away from turning 4, and her 2-year-old twin brothers fell asleep in the family’s holiday apartment while their parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, ate with friends at a neighboring restaurant.

Mr. McCann left dinner to check on the children around 9:00 pm and everything seemed fine. But when his wife checked in an hour later, around 10 pm, Madeleine was nowhere to be found.

Rumors spread about his whereabouts and what had happened that night, as the case sparked an international search for a suspect and shocked the whole of Europe. Madeleine’s parents were then paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in defamation damages due to unsubstantiated stories suggesting that the couple were responsible for Madeleine’s death.

The initial investigation by the Portuguese police in the area near the holiday apartment was heavily criticized. The search soon spread to the surrounding area, but no trace of Madeleine was found.

In 2012, after London police reviewed the investigation on the orders of David Cameron, then Britain’s prime minister, British officials said Madeleine might still be alive.

It would be almost 10 years before the focus of the investigation shifted in 2020 to a German man, whose name was not released at the time. Last year, the Portuguese police named him a formal suspect.

The suspect was later identified as 45-year-old Christian B. by German media. He lived in Portugal on and off from 1995 to 2007, has a criminal record that includes convictions for sexual abuse of children, and is serving a sentence in a German prison for an unrelated sexual offence.

Portuguese police confirmed earlier this week that they were conducting searches related to Madeleine’s disappearance with international cooperation in the southern Algarve region of the country. The German prosecutor’s office also confirmed that criminal investigations were underway in the Madeleine McCann case.

Earlier this month, Madeleine’s parents held a vigil in their village in the English Midlands to mark 16 years since her disappearance and issued a brief statement saying their daughter was “still missing” and “still missed.” a lot”.

“It’s hard to find the words to convey how we feel,” the McCann family’s statement added before thanking people for their support. “The police investigation is continuing and we await a breakthrough.”