Police in England have said that significant new leads have emerged after examining computers used by the two missing Cambridgeshire girls just before they disappeared.
Officers are working on the possibility that 10-year-old Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman might have been lured away by someone they contacted through e-mail.
It is speculated that the girls may have been contacted by a stranger through a chatroom, an area on the Internet where two or more people can have a typed conversation.
The identity of all parties may be hidden by users employing an alias.
Detective Superintendent David Hankins said that he was convinced the girls were still alive and appealed directly to anyone who may be holding them.
The girls, now missing for five days, were last seen on closed-circuit television tape on Sunday evening walking near their home in Soham.
Detectives had focused on attempting to contact new witnesses, but yesterday evening made a televised appeal to any possible abductor to release them.
Five national newspapers in Britain are offering large cash rewards for information leading to their whereabouts.
