NILAI: As hundreds have come together to search for Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, who went missing on Aug 4, a body was found at the Jeram Toi rainforest in Seremban today. However, the authorities have yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased.
Negri Sembilan police chief DCP Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusof confirmed that a member of the public had discovered the body this afternoon, some 2km from The Dusun Eco Resort where the 15-year-old teen was last seen, and notified police at about 2pm.
“We received information from a man who found the body near Gunung Berembun. My deputy (SAC Che Zakaria Othman) and the Nilai district police chief (Supt Mohd Nor Marzukee Besar) went to the scene,” he said.
In an update, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor later said preliminary investigations indicate that the body is that of Nora, adding that police will wait for her parents to identify the body.
“On our part, we are very certain it’s her,” he said.
Meanwhile, a British non-governmental organisation called The Lucie Blackman Trust has urged for Nora’s family to be accorded privacy.
“Please respect the family and do not approach them at this difficult time. All at The Lucie Blackman Trust are thinking of the family and continue to support them as they come to terms with this news.”
Nora, who suffers from learning disabilities, arrived with her family from London on Aug 3 for a two-week holiday. At 8am the next day, the family found her missing from her room.
Authorities subsequently deployed more than 300 search-and-rescue personnel, tracker dogs and drones equipped with thermal-imaging cameras in attempts to find her.
The police also used voice recordings of Nora’s mother, Meabh Quoirin, in hopes that she would approach the search team as they believed she could have been hiding in fear.
On Monday, parents of the missing teen offered a reward of RM50,000 to anyone with information to help find their missing daughter.
