Is Maddie McCann in Morocco?

Sept. 26, 2007 — -- It's been 146 days since British toddler Madeleine McCann disappeared, but it appears that a possible break in the investigation has emerged.

A photograph of a young, blond girl carried by a woman walking with a family on a Moroccan roadside is being analyzed by police as a possible sighting of the missing girl.

"We understand that the photo has been sent to the relevant authorities and is being analyzed," Adrian Chapman, a British Embassy spokesman in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, told The Associated Press.

In a case with very few leads, this could be significant.

"This is the first time we've had an image like this. On initial inspection it looks like Madeleine — about the right age and of European appearance," Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family spokesman, told reporters.

But Mitchell says the McCanns have been down this road before.

There have been several unconfirmed sightings of Madeleine in Morocco. Her parents even visited the country as they raised awareness of their daughter's disappearance.

The picture was taken by a Spanish tourist Aug. 31, just a few hundred miles from where Madeleine disappeared, apparently snatched from a vacation apartment in Portugal while her parents ate dinner nearby.

"The truth is, I've been kicking myself," photographer Clara Torres told Spanish television. "Because these 25 days have been lost. … The moment I realized, I handed over the photo to the authorities."

The enormous worldwide media campaign has spawned numerous alleged sightings of Madeleine, but no firm leads.

"Kate and Gerry know all too well that all of the sightings up until now have come to nothing, unfortunately," Mitchell told Sky News.

Authorities are now analyzing the photograph. Is this Madeleine? A hoax? Or just a little girl who looks a bit like her.

This comes after a week in which the McCanns and their spokesman have tried very hard to get attention back to the hunt for Madeleine and away from the shock of Portuguese authorities naming Gerry and Kate McCann as suspects in their daughter's disappearance.