Malaysian police have admitted for the first time that there is a possibility missing British teenager Nora Quoirin was kidnapped, after previously saying there was no evidence of an abduction.
They confirmed today that they had discovered unidentified fingerprints at the jungle cottage where Nora, 15, was reported missing on Sunday and are not ‘ruling out a criminal element’.
Her family, who say she has learning difficulties, have repeatedly insisted that she was kidnapped, though police have rigidly stuck to their belief that she left the Dusun resort, 39 miles from Kuala Lumpur, on her own accord.
Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief Che Zakaria Othman said that a forensic team was analyzing the fingerprints but declined to give any more details.
Nora Quoirin, 15, (pictured) went missing from her bedroom on Sunday morning while on a family holiday at a nature resort in Seremban, Malaysia. Authorities in Malaysia have admitted the possibility of a ‘criminal element’
The 15-year-old was on the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to the Dusun resort (pictured) near Seremban on the edge of the Malaysian rainforest
Malaysian divers take part in a search and rescue operation for the missing 15-year-old Franco-Irish, Nora Quoirin
Nora is pictured above with her mother Meabh Quoirin. According to a website set up by the family, those close to Nora are ‘distraught’
He also clarified that it was the window in the living hall downstairs that was left open, and not the one in the bedroom upstairs where the girl was.
Her siblings were sleeping in another room upstairs.
He declined to say if the window could be open from the inside, saying the investigation was ongoing.
‘Although we classified this case as a missing person but we are not ruling out any possibility… the scale of investigation and the search and rescue is very big for a small place here,’ he told a news conference. He said the investigation includes a possible criminal element.
Zakaria said a special team from the federal police headquarters as well as from the forensics and criminal investigation departments were assisting.
The rescue operation involves more than 200 people working on shifts through the night but police are still clueless as to the girl’s whereabouts and are appealing for information, he said.
A local tribe joined rescues on the third day of the search for her.
Members of Malaysian rescue team take part in a search and rescue operation for the missing teenager
Members of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department comb the jungle as they search for the schoolgirl
‘We still have hope and believe that she is still in the area. There is no information to show that she has left the area,’ he added.
The girl’s family insisted in a statement Tuesday that they did not believe she just wandered off on her own.
‘Nora’s family believe she has been abducted,’ the statement said. ‘We are especially worried because Nora has learning and developmental disabilities, and is not like other 15-year-olds. She looks younger, she is not capable of taking care of herself, and she won’t understand what is going on.’
Nora arrived with her family on Saturday for a two-week stay at the Dusun, a small resort located in a durian orchard next to a forest reserve about 39 miles south of Kuala Lumpur.
Some of the girl’s relatives were seen trekking at the hill in the search Wednesday. Police blocked access to the resort due to the search operation.
A Malaysian diver searches the water for any sign or clue that would point to where Nora is
Malaysian rescue teams comb the forest near the resort where British teenager Nora Quoirin went missing on Sunday
Police have expanded the search to the riverbed at the foothill of the resort on assumption that she could head downhill to try and find water.
Local indigenous villagers and police canine teams have also been deployed to try and track down the girl.
Her anguished grandfather said earlier that she is not in the habit of running off after police insisted she wasn’t kidnapped.
Sylvain Quoirin said by phone from Venisy, in north-central France where he is the mayor: ‘Nora disappeared in extremely mysterious conditions since she was sleeping in the room with her sister and brother.
‘In the morning, the window was open and she had disappeared, whereas after an 18-hour flight and a seven-hour time difference you would sleep soundly and not go for a stroll at night.
‘Everyone went to bed tired, and in the morning Nora wasn’t there.’
A helicopter joined more than 180 people on the third day of the search for the missing girl
A helicopter and dozens of people were deployed August 7 on the third day of the search
A local tribe joined more than 180 people on the third day of the search and Nora’s grandfather is optimistic she will be found.
The Orang Asli people, who have knowledge of the dense terrain, are assisting police as the search widens beyond a seven mile radius.
New photos have revealed the extensive search to find the missing teenager, with police, tribesmen, soldiers and sniffer dogs also joining the hunt.
Divers were seen combing lakes in the jungle near the resort where Nora was last seen.
The teen is the daughter of a Franco-Irish couple who have been living in London for around 20 years.
The family had planned to stay in Malaysia for two weeks, her grandfather said, and Nora was ‘absolutely not’ in the habit of running off.
The Orang Asli people, a local tribe that has knowledge of the dense terrain, are assisting police in the search
Authorities in Malaysia are adamant the British 15-year-old, who has learning difficulties, knowingly ventured out of the rented property
‘This is a young girl with a mild handicap who is rather timid, reserved. She is someone very fearful.’
Quoirin said he understood that the French ambassador had met high-level Malaysian officials over the case.
‘I dare to believe that we are going to find her because enormous means have been put in place,’ he added.
‘Things are being done seriously now.’
The helicopter and more than 180 people from various government agencies searched for her through the jungles near the resort, said senior police official Mohamad Mat Yusop.
‘We will do our best and will not give up hope,’ he told reporters. ‘We feel she did not go far.’
However, Nora’s family insist that she wouldn’t have walked away from the resort voluntarily
A map shows the Dusun Resort near Seremban in Malaysia where Nora disappeared on Sunday
Nora’s family have told the Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity that supports the families of British people who go missing abroad, that they suspect foul play.
The Dusun is a 12-acre (five-hectare) resort in the foothills of a mountain range and next to a forest reserve.
On Sunday morning the teen’s family couldn’t find her in her hotel room, which had a window open, a relative in France said.
The resort’s management said in a Facebook post that its employees were ‘extremely distressed and worried’ about her disappearance and were assisting in the search.
On Sunday morning the teen’s family couldn’t find her in her hotel room, which had a window open
Her father Sebastien, who found her bed empty and the room’s window open, said yesterday: ‘We believe she may have been abducted’
The resort’s management said in a Facebook post that its employees were ‘extremely distressed and worried’ about her disappearance
Nora Quoirin vanished from the eco-lodge bungalow where she was staying with her family on Sunday morning
One of Nora’s aunts, Aisling Agnew from Belfast, has set up an online fundraising campaign that aims to help cover expenses of other family members who are travelling to Malaysia to join the search effort.
It comes as relatives lashed out after it emerged that sniffer dogs lost the scent for Nora Quoirin just 100 yards from the eco-lodge bungalow where she vanished on Sunday morning.
Authorities in Malaysia are adamant the British 15-year-old, who has learning difficulties, knowingly ventured out of the rented property that borders thick jungle and got lost.
But her ‘increasingly frustrated’ family fear she was snatched by a stranger and insist that the police’s narrow approach may be hampering the investigation.
Her father Sebastien, who found her bed empty and the room’s window open, said yesterday: ‘We believe she may have been abducted.’