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LISBON - Portuguese police said today they still believed Madeleine McCann is alive 50 days after she was kidnapped, as new leads arrive from possible sightings of the four-year-old in Malta.
"Our expectations are that the child is still alive as we have no evidence to the contrary," said Portuguese chief police inspector Olegario de Sousa. "Time isn't on our side but the investigation continues."
On Thursday, police in Malta launched a full scale investigation into five possible sightings of the fair-haired girl but have so far produced no concrete results.
Sightings of Madeleine have also been reported in Morocco, Switzerland, Spain, Greece and North Wales since she disappeared on May 3 from her bed in Praia da Luz, a resort in Portugal's Algarve region.
A spokesman for parents Kate and Gerry McCann said they are waiting for more details into the latest tip-off.
"They are treating it as anything else. They will wait and see where it is going but it is still in the very early stages," Sam Harris told Reuters.
Police chief De Sousa said the lead in Malta had no more or less credibility than previous ones. "We have had sightings from a lot of places and this sighting is no different," he said. "We're going to wait for more details to determine whether it's true or false."
The McCanns will launch 50 green and yellow balloons into the sky on Friday from Praia da Luz.
"We all hope for that vital breakthrough every day," Gerry McCann wrote in his blog at www.findmadeleine.com.
Balloons are also expected to be released from more than 50 other countries, ranging from Argentina to Singapore and will carry a picture of the four-year-old in order to make global participation as easy and vast as possible.
- REUTERS
