Pupils release balloons in Madeleine ceremony

DOZENS of balloons were released into Irish skies yesterday as cities across the globe marked the 50th day since the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann.

In a poignant ceremony, 50 yellow and white balloons were freed by schoolchildren into a dark and overcast Dublin sky at around 10am.

Madeleine disappeared from her family’s Algarve holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, dined close by.