ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police may have found an 8-year-old Italian girl reported missing in Sicily four years ago, officials said on Thursday.
On a tip off from Interpol after a family friend spottedthe child on the Aegean island of Kos, police seized the girland arrested a 34-year-old Roma woman she was with.
"The girl has the same birthmark as the missing girl. Shealso only speaks Italian," said a police official, who declinedto be named.
Denise Pipitone disappeared on September 1, 2004 while shewas playing with her cousins in the street of her hometownMazara del Vallo, near Trapani.
Her mother, Piera Maggio, has always insisted she was aliveand often appealed on television for help in finding her.
She said the girl found in Greece had similar eyes toDenise but only a DNA test would confirm whether it was her.
"I am waiting for certainties not hypotheses, facts notwords," she told Italian news agencies. "If this girl is mydaughter my joy as a mother will be boundless, but if it is nother I will keep on fighting because my daughter is alive."
Authorities have sent the girl's blood-sample to Italy.They did not release her name but said she was receiving careand psychological support on the island's hospital.
The Roma woman, who says the child is not hers, was due tobe questioned by a prosecutor later in the day.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
