Nora Quoirin: Malaysia police concerned over welfare of missing teen

Nora Quoirin: Malaysia police concerned over welfare of missing teen
Copyright  REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng
By Cristina Abellan Matamoros with Associated Press
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The parents of a missing teenager who went missing from a Malaysian resort are convinced their daughter was abducted.

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Police in Malaysia said they were deeply concerned over the welfare of a missing teenager who disappeared from a resort in Malaysia a week ago.

Malaysian authorities have been leading a large-scale search operation for 15-year-old Nora Anne Quoirin. The Quoirins, an Irish-French family who have lived in London for the past 20 years, arrived at the Dusun eco-resort in the southern state of Negeri Sembilan last weekend.

"We do not know how long she can survive," Negeri Sembilan police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said.

Yusop added they have looked into records of people living in the area and those who had been in touch with the family prior to the girl's disappearance.

Police believe the teenager climbed out of a window in the living room that was left open. They are treating her a missing person but have not ruled out that she may have been abducted.

But Nora Anne's parents said on Saturday that she wasn’t independent and had difficulty walking. They believe their daughter was abducted.

Her parents say Nora Anne was born with holoprosencephaly — a malformation that means she has a smaller brain and as a result learning and physical disabilities, so it’s more plausible she was abducted.

“All her life she has spent a lot of time in hospital. When she was born, she needed operations to help her (breathe). She has specialists that monitor her growth, her physical abilities and her strength, and especially her mental capacity,” they said in a statement released by the Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity that supports people involved in crises overseas.

“She is not like other teenagers. She is not independent and does not go anywhere alone,” they said. “Nora likes to walk with her family, but her balance is limited and she struggles with coordination. She has been to Asia, and many European countries before, and has never wandered off or got lost.”

The family has thanked the Malaysian police and all those involved in the search.

More than 260 people have taken part in the operation that has included aerial searches, thermal detectors, sniffer dogs, indigenous trackers and elite commando forces.

On Friday, rescuers played voice recordings of her mother as they searched the hilly surroundings.

Investigators have questioned 20 people and said a forensic team was analyzing fingerprints found in the cottage where the girl went missing.

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