Nora Quoirin: Malaysia investigates fingerprints in missing London teen's holiday cottage
Officers say they are not ruling out a possible criminal element in the 15-year-old's disappearance.
Wednesday 7 August 2019 19:31, UK
Malaysian police are analysing fingerprints found in a forest resort cottage where a 15-year-old London girl was reported missing.
Officers have said they are not ruling out a possible criminal element after previously saying there were no signs of foul play in Nora Quoirin's disappearance.
She vanished from Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on Sunday.
The schoolgirl's family discovered her missing from her bedroom and say they believe she was abducted.
Negeri Sembilan deputy chief Che Zakaria Othman said a forensic team was analysing fingerprints found in the cottage, but declined to give details.
He said the search and investigation is still ongoing and that they are "using all the man power" available.
This includes a special team from the federal police headquarters as well as from the forensics and criminal investigation departments.
Police have expanded the search to the riverbed at the foothill of the resort on the assumption that she could head downhill to try and find water.
Mr Zakaria told Sky News: "We are still looking. We have also used scuba divers from our fire rescue department to check all the places along the river."
He also told a news conference that it was the window in the living room downstairs that was left open, and not the one in the bedroom upstairs where the girl was sleeping.
Her siblings were sleeping in another room upstairs.
Mr Zakaria 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.
The rescue operation involves more than 200 people working on shifts through the night, but there are no fresh leads on the girl's whereabouts.
"We still have hope and believe that she is still in the area. There is no information to show that she has left the area," he added.
Nora's family said in a statement on Tuesday that they believe she has been abducted.
"We are especially worried because Nora has learning and developmental disabilities, and is not like other 15-year-olds," the family said.
"She looks younger, she is not capable of taking care of herself, and she won't understand what is going on."
In a video statement on Wednesday, Nora's family said the situation had been "extremely traumatic" and they were "unable to deal with this at this moment".
Nora's parents are an Irish-French couple who have lived in London for around 20 years, according to the Lucie Blackman Trust.
She arrived with her family on Saturday for a two-week holiday at the Dusun, a small resort located in a durian orchard next to a forest reserve about 63km (39 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur.