Nora Quoirin: Malaysia investigates fingerprints in missing London teen’s holiday cottage
Malaysian police have questioned at least 20 people in the search for missing 15-year-old Nora Quoirin.
For the first time, officers have admitted a possible kidnapping in missing British teenager Nora Quoirin case, after previously saying there was no evidence of an abduction.
Her parents awoke on Sunday morning to discover that she had gone missing and the window of her hotel room was lying open.
Police interviewed Quoirin’s family and resort staff, and swept the hotel room where she was last seen for fingerprints, police official Che Zakaria Othman told a news conference on Wednesday.
He said the search and investigation is still ongoing and that they are “using all the man power” available.
“Our forensics team has gone through the entire building, and the investigation process is still ongoing,” added Mr Zakaria, the deputy police chief of the state of Negri Sembilan, where Seremban is located.
This includes a special team from the federal police headquarters as well as from the forensics and criminal investigation departments.
Police have expanded their search to the riverbed at the foothill of the resort on the assumption that Nora could head downhill to try and find water. Local indigenous villagers and police canine teams have also been deployed to track down the girl.
Mr. Zakaria 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 opened 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 said.
He said that the investigation includes a possible criminal element. More than 200 people are working day and night in this rescue operation, but still there are no fresh leads on the girl’s whereabouts.
He added there is no information to show that she has left the area. We still hope and believe that she is still in the area and we will do everything to find her.
Nora’s family said they are worried especially because Nora has learning and developmental disabilities, and is it not like a normal 15-year-old girl.
She went missing while on a family holiday at the Dusan resort in a nature reserve near Seremban, about 63 km south of the capital Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The family have set up an email address for information — findnoraq@gmail.com.
