Girl missing near Madeleine site

A five-year-old girl has gone missing in Spain, 120 miles from where Madeleine McCann disappeared.Mari Luz Cortes's family believe she was kidnapped outside her home in Huelva, 25 miles from the border with Portugal.Mari was last seen at a sweet stall 100 yards from her home on Sunday afternoon.On Monday evening, a woman reported she had seen a girl fitting Mari Luz's description on a local bus at 8pm on Sunday.The girl was with a gypsy woman who kept shouting at her to stop crying.Meanwhile, investigators in Portuguese are planning to re-interview friends of Gerry and Kate McCann.The friends were on holiday with the McCann family in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished on May 3.They are key witnesses in the case and reports claim Portuguese detectives are prepared to fly to the UK to sit in on fresh questioning of them by British police.Portugal is seeking the assistance of a Europe-wide body in securing the help of the authorities in Britain.The Portuguese public prosecutor contacted Eurojust - the European Union's judicial co-operation agency - at the start of January.Eurojust spokesman Joannes Thuy said: "I can confirm that Eurojust was asked to be the go-between for the Portuguese and the UK authorities."Of course, as the investigation is ongoing, we cannot go into any details of the investigation itself."© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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ITN | January 16, 2008

Tags:. .near. .case. .sunday. .monday. .missing