KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Nora Anne Quoirin, a special needs 15-year-old who disappeared overnight from her holiday bedroom at an upscale forest resort in Seremban, Negri Sembilan is still regarded as a missing persons case and not an abduction, local police clarified.
“The case is still classified as missing persons. Not abduction,” Deputy Negri Sembilan police chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Che Zakaria Othman told Malay Mail when contacted today.
He confirmed receiving a phone call from London this morning, but said the transmission was unclear as he was in the jungle.
He did not elaborate on the caller or the discussion.
However, London-based charity group The Lucie Blackman Trust, which helps provide crisis support group for overseas Britons, issued a statement earlier today claiming local police are investigating Quoirin’s disappearance as an abduction.
Negri Sembilan police have expanded the search for Quoirin after a lapse of 24 hours.
Che Zakaria Othman said the searchers now number 159, up from the 119 yesterday when her family filed a missing persons report after finding the special needs girl missing from her bedroom at The Dusun and the window left wide open.
“The SAR operation now involves all police division, Fire and Rescue Services Department, Civil Defence, Rela and Forestry Department personnel.
“Apart from these, locals including the indigenous community in the vicinity are also roped in to help.
“A platoon from the General Operations Force (GOF) based in Cheras is on its way here, increasing the search party to 159 members,” he told reporters at the Pantai Police Station in Seremban today.
Malay Mail was able to get a recording of the press conference.
Che Zakaria said the search area has also been widened from an initial area coverage of 4.9-hectares surrounding The Dusun in Pantai Hills, to the state forests and residential neighbourhoods.
“Teams from the Forestry Department and Orang Asli will focus on the forest areas while the rest will focus on residential areas and other areas in Pantai,” he said.
He said closed circuit cameras in the resort were limited to its reception area.
He added that Quoirin’s belongings and passport are intact and with her family.
He appealed publicly to those with information on the teenager to immediately notify the police.
The resort’s management had also earlier via its Facebook page informed that The Dusun management and staff are working with police to find Quoirin.
Quorin, the daughter of an unidentified Irish-French couple, was found missing from her bedroom at the holiday resort about 8am yesterday.
The family were reported to have flown in from London Saturday for a two-week holiday.
