Missing girl's parents: She's still alive

LONDON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The British couple whose daughter vanished while they were on vacation in Portugal say 4-year-old Madeleine McCann is still alive.

Kate and Gerry McCann, in an interview with Sky News, said police in Portugal have told them they do not think Madeleine is dead.

"Last week when we met with the police they said, 'We are looking for a living child,' " Kate McCann said.

The McCann's statement came amid reports in Portuguese newspapers a sniffer dog found traces of blood in the apartment the McCanns and a group of friends rented in the Praia da Luz resort, that Portuguese police plan to re-interview them and that investigators now believe Madeleine was killed in the apartment, The Daily Mail reports. Another dog found indications a body had been in the apartment.

The search with the dogs was carried out by police from Leicestershire, the McCann's home county.

The McCanns, who were in Portugal with a group of friends, say that they left Madeleine sleeping with her siblings in one bedroom in the apartment while they ate dinner at a restaurant within sight of the building.