McCanns: Keep hunting for Madeleine

LONDON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Madeleine McCann's parents are urging Portuguese police to continue hunting for their daughter even as the investigation scales back to three detectives.

Kate and Gerry McCann of Rothley, England, reportedly are furious at police claims their daughter is dead, The Telegraph reported Sunday.

"Of course we accept it's possible Madeleine may no longer be alive but we don't know and nor do the police, so we have to do everything we can to find her," Kate McCann told friends, according to the British newspaper.

Only three detectives remain on the case after the dismissal of chief investigator Goncalo Amaral, who was pulled from the case after publicly accusing British police of being manipulated by the McCanns, who have been named suspects in Madeleine's May 3 disappearance from a vacation apartment in Praia da Luz.

Family friends said the McCanns have found it nearly unbearable to hear police may have given up looking for their daughter, who now would be four years old.