Kate and Gerry McCann are ready for 'significant news' on the fate of their daughter Madeleine as British police today prepare to dig up wasteland 300 metres from where she disappeared in 2007.
"It has been so long, and the investigating officers now have new information and there may finally be some answers"
Isabel Duarte, the family's lawyer in Portugal, has said the family know police would not be digging there unless they 'have some very good information'.
She explained: "Kate and Gerry have not been given any information that Madeleine is dead, and until this happens they have to believe she is still alive.
"But they think police will come up with some significant news. It is such a stressful time for them and my heart goes out to them. It has been so long, and the investigating officers now have new information and there may finally be some answers.
"I don't need to ask them how they are feeling. It is very clear. But it is not for me to say if they fear the worst."
A team of 30 Scotland Yard detectives - geared with sniffer dogs, picks and shovels - will continue searching wasteland in Praia da Luz, a five-minute walk from the apartment where little Madeleine was last seen alive.
The area, roughly the size of three football pitches, has reportedly been chosen because it is close to where a suspect was seen with a little girl in his arms on the night three-year-old Madeleine vanished seven years ago.
Maddie's parents, Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, have not travelled to Portugal but are being kept informed by Scotland Yard during what is sure to be a 'stressful time for them'.