New search on Greek island for missing British toddler

British police have begun a new search on the Greek Aegean island of Kos for a toddler from Britain who went missing over two decades ago, officials said Tuesday.

"The search began yesterday and is expected to last two weeks," a Greek police source told AFP.

Supervised by a Greek prosecutor, a team of British experts supported by Greek police are searching outside a farmhouse where Ben Needham, a 21-month toddler from the northern England city of Sheffield, went missing in 1991.

According to video footage released by the South Yorkshire Police, a large field with olive and fig trees has been cleared for the investigation, with nearly a dozen men digging and sifting through the soil.

Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said the search would focus just outside the farmhouse after "new information" came to light in May.

He did not elaborate, but reports say police are examining the possibility the toddler was crushed by a digger clearing land as he played outside the farmhouse.

Cousins on Tuesday said a number of animal bones had been discovered on the opening day.

"We were able to progress extremely well, get the land prepared and organised, and actually start digging," he said in the police video.

In past years there have been suspected sightings of young men believed to resemble Ben in Greece and Cyprus, but DNA tests have come back negative.

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