Malaysia examines body of dead teen
M A L AY SI A N a ut hor i t i e s on Wednesday conducted a postmortem examination on the body of a Fra nco-Ir ish teen found in t he jungle after she disappeared f rom a r e s or t , a s her f a mi l y mourned the “unbearable” loss.
The unclot hed body of Nora Quoirin, 15, was discovered on Tuesday in a ravine in dense rainforest af ter a 10-day hunt involving hundreds of people, helicopters and snif fer dogs.
She went missi ng f rom t he Dusun Resort, not far from Kuala Lumpur, on August 4, a day after checking in for a holiday with her London-based family.
Her fa mily bel ieved t he teen, who had learning difficulties, had been abducted but police classified her disappearance as a missing person case.
Her body was airlifted by helicopter out of t he rav ine – about 2.5k m f rom t he resor t – a f ter wh ich it wa s t r a n s por te d t o hospita l a nd ident i f ied by her relat ives.
Medics bega n conduct i ng a post-mortem examination on the body on Wednesday morning, as a media scr um gat hered at t he hospital in Seremban town, which was guarded by armed officers.
The autopsy took longer t han expected and was set to finish in t he evening, wit h police say ing t he doctors had asked for ex t ra time.
Her relatives said the schoolgirl was “at t he heart of our family”, in a statement released by The Lucie Blackman Trust, a UK charit y t hat supports relatives of British people missing overseas.
“She i s t he t r uest, most precious g i rl a nd we love her i nf initely. The cr uelt y of her bei ng ta ken away is unbea rable. Our hea r ts a re broken.
“We w i l l a l way s
Nora.”
A f ter meet i ng t he g i rl’s pa rent s, fa mi ly law yer Sa n k a ra N Nair said they hoped “the authorit ies wil l i nvest igate t he deat h of t heir lov ing daughter t horoughl y a nd ex plore a l l a ng les t hat caused her deat h”.
The body was found unclothed but aut hor it ies have not sa id i f t here were any signs of injur y.
Police are not ruling out crimina l elements i n t he case, have lov e ou r
questioned witnesses and are investigating witness accounts of a truck heard early on the morning the girl disappeared.
A group of volunteers who were part of t he sea rch a nd rescue team found the body a f ter bei ng t ipped of f by a member of the public.
It was discovered in the officia l sea rch zone, in a n a rea that the team had prev iously covered.
On Monday, the family had of f e r e d a 5 0, 0 0 0 r i ng g i t ($11,900) reward, donated by a Belfast business, for information that could lead to her return.
A nd at t he weekend, her mo t h e r Me a b h f o u g h t back tea rs as she made a n emotiona l speech t ha nk ing t he sea rch tea m, w it h t he girl’s French fat her Sebastien by her side.
The f ive-hecta re (12-acre) re sor t where t he te enager disappeared is next to a patch of t h ick ju ng le a nd i n t he f o ot h i l l s of a mou nt a i n ra nge.
Her family had said it was e x t r e me l y u n l i k e l y t h e reser ved you ngster wou ld have wa ndered of f on her own.
She had a condition known as holoprosencephaly, where t he brain fails to develop norma l l y, had l i mited verba l communicat ion a nd cou ld only write a few words.
She attended a school for young people with lea rning and communication dif f icult ies.