More Madeleine Sightings in Malta

|PIC1|Two more possible sightings of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann in Malta are being investigated by police.

A spokeswoman said a British man and a local woman had told officers they may have seen the British girl, who disappeared more than 50 days ago.

It follows a number of other reported sightings of a child resembling Madeleine in the island's capital, Valletta, and five other locations.

Madeleine disappeared on 3 May from the holiday apartment where she was staying in Praia De Luz, Portugal.

Previously, detectives in Malta followed up claims by a Maltese woman who said she had seen a "look-alike" of Madeleine accompanied by a middle-aged woman near the City Gate in Valletta.

A British man staying in Malta also reported to officers that he had seen a girl matching Madeleine's description with a woman of either Spanish or Arabic origin.

"So far, police investigations have yielded negative results," a police spokeswoman said. "Nevertheless, the police will continue investigating this case."

Detectives in Malta have been looking into other possible sightings of Madeleine since 27 May.

Superintendent Pierre Calleja said police in Malta had received a report of a possible sighting. He said, "Subsequent to this report, a full scale police investigation and a magisterial inquiry were initiated. These investigations are actively in progress and all possible avenues are being pursued."

A spokesman for Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, said they would not be hasty in giving credibility to the claims at this stage.

In-Nazzjon, a Maltese newspaper, reported that two tourists told police they had seen a girl matching Madeleine's description in Valletta.

Other reports said four additional people had also come forward with possible sightings following this.

Ray Roberts, from Anglesey, north Wales, said he saw a child in Sliema wearing what looked like a black wig and being told "Get up, little girl" by a man of Arab appearance, BBC reports.

"It was obviously not his first language so it seemed odd that he had to speak to her in English," Mr Roberts said. "As a father, their reaction did not seem natural. Then I noticed the little girl's hair. It was pitch black, very thick and cut in an unusual style for a child that age - very much like a wig rather than real hair.

"The more I think about what I saw the more convinced I become that it may well have been Maddie. The oddness of it all played out in my mind until I got home then I realised I had to do something."

However, a spokeswoman for the McCann family has said they were not focusing on the sightings until more information was available from an official source.

"Their whole attitude from day one has been that they know there are going to be lots of bits of information, but if they expended energy on every single one of them what would they be like by now?" she explained.

Last Friday, Madeleine's family led supporters across 50 countries in marking the 50th day since her disappearance. They released 50 yellow balloons from the beach resort where their daughter went missing, and 49 other countries including England, Ireland, Argentina, USA, Singapore and Australia marked the day in the same way.