Private detectives hired to find Madeleine McCann are attempting to establish if there is a link with the disappearance of a young Spanish girl.

Mari Luz Cortes, 5, vanished on Sunday in the Spanish border town of Huelva, 120 miles from the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared on May 3.

Police officers have been scouring the area for the girl, and Portuguese detectives have also been carrying out searches on their side of the border.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, visited Huelva in August to promote the international search for their daughter, who disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday.

The couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said that there were “comparisons” between the disappearances but emphasised that it was too early to say if the two cases were linked.

The Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3 was looking into the Spanish child's disappearance as a priority.

He said: “Our investigators, Metodo 3 are working very closely with the Spanish police in the first instance, and with the family to establish whether there are any links or similarities.”

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire. were aware of the case and their thoughts were with the girl's family, he said.

Mr McCann wrote on his internet blog: “Kate and I were dismayed to learn today that a 5-year-old girl has been missing from Huelva, in southern Spain since Sunday evening.

“As many of you know, Heulva is approximately a 2 hour drive from Praia da Luz and we went there in early August to publicise Madeleine's disappearance. Hearing of the probable abduction of Mari Luz Cortes has brought many awful emotions flooding back. We hope and pray that Mari is quickly found and returned safely to her family.”

Madeleine's family believe that she may have been taken to Spain after disappearing from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. The Find Madeleine campaign unveiled an £80,000 advertising campaign in Spain in October to promote the search for the missing girl.

Mari disappeared after walking 200 yards from her gypsy family's home to buy a bag of crisps at 5pm on Sunday. When she did not return, her mother, Irena, searched the housing estate where they live before calling the police two hours later. Officers used helicopters and sniffer dogs to scour the area and searched bins, water tanks and wells around the city.

On witness claimed she had seen Mari on a bus hours after she vanished, with a gypsy woman who was shouting at her to keep quiet.

Mrs Cortes said: “It's a credible lead for me because the woman gave a lot of facts about the clothes the girl was wearing. I think it could be my daughter.”

Her husband, Juan Jose, 34, a builder and former professional football coach, said he could not face the possibility both his daughter and Madeleine had both been targeted by a paedophile ring.

“It's a possibility but it is not something we want to contemplate right now,” he said. “If anyone has taken Mari by mistake or if they thought she was lost, please bring her back.”

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