Nora Quoirin: Authorities ‘find footprints in jungle’ thought to belong to missing British teenager
Search for 15-year-old girl enters fifth day as family fear possible abduction
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Your support makes all the difference.Footprints thought to belong to missing British teenager Nora Quoirin have been discovered in the Malaysian jungle, authorities told local media on Friday.
The 15-year-old, who has learning difficulties, disappeared from the Dusun Tropical Rainforest Resort on Sunday where she was on holiday with her parents, Meabh and Sebastian Quorin.
Mr and Ms Quoirin fear Nora may have been abducted, but Malaysian authorities are operating on the theory that she is lost in the jungle and have deployed hundreds of officers, drones and helicopters within a 6km radius of the hotel.
The footprints were found by the Fire and Rescue Department’s sniffer dogs on Thursday, the rescue division’s assistant director Ahmad Mukhlis Mokhtar told New Straits Times.
Although a search of the surrounding area yielded no further clues, the team remained optimistic that Nora would be found, he said.
Her parents, who have lived in London for 20 years, found their daughter missing and her window open when they entered her room on Sunday morning.
Authorities stepped up their search on Friday, broadcasting recordings of Nora’s mother’s voice through the jungle on loudspeakers.
“Nora darling, Nora, Nora, Mummy’s here,” she said in the recording, which is hoped will encourage the teenager to make contact, amid a theory she could be hiding behind trees and rocks.
Police have not ruled out a criminal element in the investigation and have analysed fingerprints taken from the family’s residence, 60km south of Kuala Lumpur.
Nora’s family has launched a GoFundMe page to allow relatives to join the search in Malaysia, which had raised more than £70,000 on Friday morning.
“We are completely overwhelmed by the support we have received from all over the world,” her parents said in a statement, also thanking Malaysian, British, French and Irish authorities.
But the question of foul play remains. Her aunt wrote on the appeal that due to her learning disabilities, Nora ”would not know how to get help and would never leave her family voluntarily”.
Nora’s grandfather, Sylvain Quoirin, echoed her sentiments, questioning the police’s current focus on searching the nearby rainforest.
“In my opinion, the adventure escapade line of inquiry is not at all valid,” he told the BBC, adding the teenager was “very shy, very reserved, very fearful”.
Additional reporting by PA
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