Is Madeleine McCann in Morocco?

Recent reports have suggested that Madeleine McCann might be ion Morocco, for two unrelated witnesses reported seeing the missing British tot in the city of Marrakesh days after she disappeared in Portugal.

London, Sep 23 : Recent reports have suggested that Madeleine McCann might be ion Morocco, for two unrelated witnesses reported seeing the missing British tot in the city of Marrakesh days after she disappeared in Portugal.

A Briton has told Moroccan police that he is sure that the little girl he saw in the lobby of the Ibis hotel in Marrakesh was Madeleine, who vanished days earlier from the family's hotel apartment in the Algarve on May 3.

The man contacted the police after he flew home to Britain and saw news reports of her abduction.

The Moroccan secret police took his report seriously because witness Marie Pollard, a Norwegian woman who returned to Spain, reported spotting Madeleine a few hundred yards away at the Afriquia petrol station.

Pollard, according to the newspaper, said the girl, who was with a man, looked sad and said to him in good English: "Can I see mummy soon?" source close to Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann confirmed the man's sighting was reported.

According to the source, the man saw the girl alone, close to the Ibis hotel, which is just across the road from the petrol station where Pollard saw a girl she thought was Madeleine.

"When the man, who is from Yorkshire, arrived home from Morocco, he saw Madeleine's picture and was convinced he had seen her. He reported the sighting to Leicestershire police who passed the information to Moroccan and Portuguese authorities," News of the World quoted the source, as saying.

"Maybe it's the same girl, but the authorities have not yet been able to establish whether it was Madeleine. It is significant that the man made his report unaware of the other sighting. So we have TWO independent sightings in the SAME place," the source added.

The sightings prompted a massive police operation in Morocco that is still continuing.

News of the second witness in Morocco comes just days after Portuguese police admitted they are now considering all options, including that Madeleine could have been abducted.

Portuguese police suspect Kate was involved in the accidental death of her daughter and both parents then tried to cover it up by spreading the abduction story.

Gerry and Kate have always insisted their daughter was kidnapped, and the latest witness account adds weight to this theory.

"Gerry and Kate are anxious the focus is on finding Madeleine. From day one they have insisted she was abducted and they are clinging to the hope someone is holding her and she is alive," a source close to the McCanns said.

"They will continue to do everything possible to find their daughter and want people to remain vigilant and report anything that can help to find her. Until they are told different, they pray for the day when she can return to her family and they will never give up hope," the source added.

ANI