LAST UPDATE | 13 Aug 2019
POLICE IN MALAYSIA have confirmed a body found earlier today has been identified as that of missing Irish teenager Nóra Quoirin.
A post-mortem is set to be carried out tomorrow.
Earlier today police told reporters that search and rescue teams found the body around 2km from the Dusun resort where the 15-year-old had been staying with her family.
The girl’s body was winched out of a jungle ravine and taken by helicopter to hospital, where she was identified by her parents.
Malaysia’s deputy national police chief Mazian Mansor said the girl’s unclothed body was found in a small stream in a ravine.
He declined to reveal if there were any obvious injuries and said the case is still being treated as a missing person case.
Nóra has been missing from the holiday resort of Dusun in Seremban, not far from Kuala Lumpur, since 4 August.
She is the daughter of an Irish mother and French father and so carries an Irish passport.
More than 350 people were deployed over the past 10 days to hunt through dense jungle, backed by helicopters, drones, sniffer dogs and divers, in a bid to locate her.
Officers from Ireland and the UK travelled to Malaysia to assist local authorities.
While officially treating it as a missing person case, police have not ruled out other possibilities. An open window was found in the cottage where the family was staying at the resort.
Police have questioned a number of people, examined fingerprints found on a window, and looked into reports that villagers heard a truck early on the morning that Nóra disappeared.
‘Deepest condolences’
President Michael D Higgins has expressed his sympathy to Nóra’s family.
“Sabina and I offer our deepest condolences to Nóra’s parents, Meabh and Sebastien, to Nóra’s siblings and to her extended family,” he said.
On behalf of the people of Ireland, I would also like to express my gratitude for the assistance given by the Malaysian authorities in the search for Nóra, for the volunteers who answered the call to join the search and for all those throughout Malaysia, Ireland, Britain and France who offered what support they could.
Our thoughts and prayers are now with Nóra’s family, at this most difficult time. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has also offered his condolences, describing the situation as “every family’s worst nightmare”.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney said the Irish and French embassies in Malaysia are working together to provide assistance to the Quoirin family.
“At this harrowing time all of our thoughts and prayers are with the family,” he said.
The Lucie Blackman Trust has been working with the family over the last 10 days, The charity said it is continuing to support them “as they come to terms with this news”.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy, Órla Ryan and © AFP 2019
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