THE mother of missing teenager Nora Quoirin tearfully begged searchers not to give up their hunt yesterday as authorities in Malaysia said they feared for her survival.
Nora’s parents Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin, from London, fear their 15-year-old daughter, who has learning disabilities, was abducted a week ago after the family arrived in a resort in mountainous rain forest.
Visibly exhausted and struggling to contain her emotions, Mrs Quoirin, 45, paid tribute to the rescue teams scouring dense forest around the resort since Nora vanished.
‘We know you’re searching night and day for Nora,’ she said. ‘We see you working so hard and also praying with us and being with us. To be with us here, it means the world to us. We are so grateful for everything that you are doing for us, everyone who is helping.’
Meabh Quoirin (pictured with husband Sebastian) has thanked Malaysia police for helping search for their daughter Nora, 15, who went missing from the eco-resort in the Dusun forest where they had been staying
Her family have previously expressed concerns over Nora’s vulnerability and said she ‘does not go anywhere on her own’.
Police are keeping an open mind on whether Nora simply wandered off or was snatched, but struck a pessimistic note yesterday as the search area was reduced to a radius of two and a half miles.
Mohamad Mat Yusop, police chief of Negeri Sembilan state where the resort is located, said: ‘We are very worried about [her] welfare and we don’t know how long [she] can survive.’ Police also said they were looking into people with criminal backgrounds in the area and had searched the homes of hotel staff.
But they admitted there has been no breakthrough or concrete clues in the search for Nora, who was discovered missing from the Dusun eco-resort by her father last Sunday morning with a downstairs window wide open.
Search crews looking for the 15-year-old have begun playing her mother´s voice in the dense Malaysian forest near where she disappeared (Handout/PA)
Mr Quoirin, 47, and his wife, an Irish-French couple who have lived in South London for 20 years, say Nora – born with a brain defect called holoprosencephaly – needs help in every aspect of daily care.
Earlier, the family put out a statement insisting Nora was ‘not independent and does not go anywhere alone’ after suggestions from police that she may have climbed out of the window of her resort room and wandered out into the jungle.
Teams of officers and volunteers have searched thick jungle around the resort, where recordings have been played on loudspeakers of her mother saying: ‘Nora darling. I love you. Mum is here.’
The search for Nora was continuing in humid 34C temperatures yesterday at the start of the Hari Raya Haji festival, the Malaysian name for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Members of a rescue team and a dog conduct a search and rescue operation for missing British girl Nora Quoirin, 15, at the forest in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
Nora, who holds an Irish passport, has visited Asia and countries in Europe before but has never wandered off alone, her parents say.
Her disappearance came on the family’s first night at the resort, which is two hours’ drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Mediums from the superstitious local community have offered help amid mounting rumours in villages that Nora has been snatched by spirits known as the ‘orang bunian’.
The Quoirins, an Irish-French family who have lived in London for 20 years, arrived in the Dusun forest eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state a week ago.
Undated family handout photo of Meabh Quoirin with her daughter Nora Quoirin who has gone missing while on holiday in Malaysia (PA / handout)
‘To be with us here, it means the world to us. We are so grateful for everything that you are doing for us, everyone who is helping here and not from here,’ Meabh Quorin said at a gathering
She was discovered missing by her father Sebastien the following morning at around 8am, with a large door-sized downstairs window panel wide open.
Rescue teams are blasting recordings of her mother’s voice out of speaker phones as they search the surrounding jungle.
The family fears their daughter, who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly and needs help with many aspects of everyday life, may have been abducted.
‘She is not like other teenagers,’ her family said in a statement. ‘She is not independent and… is very sensitive. Outside the family, Nora is very shy and can be quite anxious.
A members of a rescue team plays a recording of the voice of the mother of missing British girl Nora Anne Quoirin as he conducts a search and rescue operation
‘Every night, her special time is for cuddles and a night-time story with her mum. She was extremely excited about the holiday in Malaysia.’
Local police have insisted that Nora is most likely to have wandered out of the resort before getting lost in the dense jungle surrounding it.
But concerns for her welfare will be heightened by her family’s descriptions of her difficulties throughout life.
Irish band Westlife, who performed in the country’s capital Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, asked their fans to help look for the missing teenager, the Malaysian Star publication reported.
Posters of Nora flashed on giant screens before and during the concert before band member Nicky Byrne pleaded with the 7,000-strong crowd to keep find her.
‘Help share (the poster) on social media. If you know anything about Nora’s disappearance, come forward,’ he said.
Local police have insisted that Nora is most likely to have wandered out of the resort before getting lost in the dense jungle surrounding it. But concerns for her welfare will be heightened by her family’s descriptions of her difficulties throughout life
Nora and her family arrived at the sprawling resort, located 39 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, last Saturday before she went to sleep beside her siblings in an upstairs bedroom. The Dusun resort is pictured above
‘We are from the same country so this feels very close to us. We wish her family, who must be devastated, much love.
‘If you have any information, please go to the authorities,’ Mr Byrne said.
The family has said they remain hopeful after police leading the investigation refused to rule out a ‘criminal element’.
An Irish Garda liaison officer has been deployed to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to assist with the case, as Nora was travelling on an Irish passport.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lucie Blackman Trust intelligence on ops@lbtrust.org or +44 800 098 8485
Nora, 15, went missing while on a holiday with her family in Malaysia (Handout/PA)