Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who went missing six months back from her parents' holiday apartment in Portugal, have now shifted their focus on the Balkans from Morocco.
LONDON: Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who went missing six months back from her parents' holiday apartment in Portugal, have now shifted their focus on the Balkans from Morocco.
The shift came after an Irish tourist on a pilgrimage to the "miracle" town of Medjugorje in Bosnia claimed that he had spotted a girl, resembling Madeleine, crying "I want my daddy" as she was driven away by a man and a woman.
"The sighting in Bosnia is being taken seriously," the 'Daily Mail' reported here on Sunday, quoting the spokesman for the McCanns, Clarence Mitchell, as saying.
In fact, the report of the sighting came in the first full week after the Metodo 3 hotline was set up by the McCanns for possible sightings.
"The girl fitted the description of little Maddy. When I approached the couple who had her, the man put a hand over her mouth and bundled her into a car. I'm sure that this child was not theirs and I'm convinced it could have been Maddy.
"She was very agitated and sobbing. The instant I saw her my heart skipped a beat because it immediately struck me that she looked like Madeleine McCann. I was filled with panic. I knew I had to do something," the witness, who has asked to remain anonymous, was quoted by the daily as saying.
He has also claimed that he wrote down the registration of the couple's car and had alerted the local police but his sighting was not "followed up".
The person from Fermanagh, was on holiday in the Bosnia-Herzegovina town with his wife and two-year-old ten days ago. The town regularly attracts Catholics hoping to see apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
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