‘Inexperienced’ officers may have missed clues in Nora Quoirin search

The parents of 15-year-old Nora Quoirin were yesterday flying home to Britain with their daughter’s body after she was found dead in a Malaysian jungle following a ten-day search.

As they flew back, police admitted that inexperienced searchers may have missed critical opportunities to save the teenager, who had severe learning difficulties.

She was found on Tuesday near a waterfall less than two miles from the Dusun eco-resort where she had been staying with her parents, Meabh and Sebastien, and her younger siblings.

She disappeared from her room a fortnight ago. An autopsy concluded she died of stress and starvation.

As her parents and sister, 12, and brother, eight, returned to London, senior police officers involved in the search told The Mail on Sunday that Nora – who is believed to have been alive in the jungle for up to a week – might have been found before her death. 

The waterfall area where her naked body was found on Tuesday had been combed by search teams in the first days of the search, although police later suggested she may have wandered there from elsewhere in the jungle.

‘The searchers included people who were inexperienced and got tired quickly in the hot and humid conditions and didn’t always walk at arm’s length from each other,’ said one officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

‘We can’t blame them because it was the first time for many of these searchers working for so many hours in these conditions and water and food supplies were limited. Overall, I think they did a good job despite incredibly arduous conditions.’

Another senior officer, who also asked not to be named, said the area where Nora was found was yesterday still being investigated by forensic officers to see if there were any signs that Nora was abducted or assaulted before her death. Her underwear has not been found.

But the officer said: ‘We have found no evidence to support a criminal element so far and we are continuing to examine the area where she was found for clues. Locals are also being interviewed.

‘The circumstances surrounding her death remain a complete mystery. Nora was barefoot and dressed only in her underwear when she disappeared from an open hall window of her holiday bungalow on the first night of the family’s holiday. 

‘Sniffer dogs only picked up her trail about 100 metres from the lodge, and how a child with special needs could have walked nearly two miles into dense forest and through a steep ravine is mystifying.

‘Everyone is very upset and we have agonised over how she ended up in a waterfall area that had been combed by search teams in the first seven days.’

Nora’s body was taken by her family from the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban in the early hours of yesterday and transported to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the flight to London.