Kate and Gerry McCann were yesterday waiting to hear whether a reported sighting of their daughter Madeleine in Spain was valid.

They were told police in Majorca had launched a search for the missing Leicestershire youngster on Sunday after a suspected sighting by a British couple.

The tourists claimed to have seen the little girl, missing since May last year, with two women in the south-east of the island.

Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Kate and Gerry are aware of this report, as are their investigators, and are grateful to the couple for informing the Spanish police as quickly as they did.

"Kate and Gerry are awaiting to hear from the Spanish authorities whether this is valid.

"There have been so many reported sightings which sadly have come to nothing that they have long learned not to get their hopes up."

The tourists claimed they saw a girl similar in appearance to Madeleine with two women in their 40s or 50s who did not look Spanish, said Mr Mitchell.

They returned to their hotel after the "sighting" on the beach in Cala d'Or at around 10.30am, and checked the internet for Madeleine's appearance.

Police have since reportedly been searching all surrounding hotels and buildings to try to trace the child.

A police spokesman in Cala d'Or told the Leicester Mercury: "We have all our personnel investigating this news.

"We are looking in all the hotels and holiday apartments, all the places possible.

"These English people say they have seen somebody who looks like Madeleine. They say she looked a lot like Madeleine, but obviously we are not sure. We are checking all the hotels where these people could be."

There have been a string of reported sightings of Madeleine McCann across Europe and North Africa since she went missing in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

However, investigations of reports in countries such as Belgium and Morocco have so far proved fruitless.