Nora Quoirin’s family have said they still have many questions about how their teenage daughter died in the Malaysian jungle as they prepare to bring her body home to London.
The 15-year-old’s unclothed body was found on Tuesday beside a waterfall about a mile and a half from the eco-resort where they were staying. The discovery was made nine days after she went missing from her bedroom.
A post-mortem examination by Malaysian police concluded that Nora, who had learning difficulties, died of starvation after wandering in the jungle for up to a week. They said that any suggestion of abduction was ruled out “for the time being”.
“The cause of death was upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer, complicated with perforation... it could be due to a lack of food for a long period of time and due to prolonged stress,” Mohamad Mat Yusop, a police chief, said this week.
A source on the search team said, however, that she could not have walked to the place where she was found dead by herself. “The average gradient of the slopes where Nora was found range from 20 to 40 per cent,” the source told the Daily Mail. “You have to cross two reasonably deep streams to reach the area. The terrain by the stream is very slippery. The roots and rocks are wet. My boots were destroyed by the end and Nora was barefoot.”
Her Irish-French parents, Meabh and Sebastien, said that they were “struggling to understand the events of the last ten days”. They want more answers about what had happened in the days after her disappearance, they said.
After meeting the Malaysian deputy prime minister yesterday, Nora’s family said in a statement: “The initial post-mortem results have given some information that helps us to understand Nora’s cause of death. But our beautiful, innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions.”
A former police officer who has been advising the family urged the authorities to keep an open mind about the cause of her death. Jim Gamble said on the Breakfast programme on BBC One: “The family have always had a question mark of whether there was any criminal activity, and I think everyone should retain an open mind.”
Nora went missing on August 4 from a holiday villa in the Pantai Hills near Dusun. She died between two and four days before her body was discovered by hikers.
The search involved 350 people as well as a helicopter and sniffer dogs. Mr Gamble said: “In the villa we do know that the downstairs window was broken so it couldn’t have been locked by the family and could have been opened from outside. We know why Nora died, in simple terms from starvation, we know where she ended up. But we don’t necessarily know how she got there.”
Police sources in Malaysia disclosed that British and French officers had been carrying out their own investigations. Two officers who stayed will report on their findings, a source told Mail Online.
Nora had the brain defect holoprosencephaly and learning difficulties that meant she struggled with everyday tasks. Her parents have said that she had limited speech and co-ordination.
The family have said they will bring Nora’s body home “where she will finally be laid to rest, close to her loving families in France and Ireland”.
They also thanked the Malaysian authorities and search parties for helping to locate Nora. “Tragically, as we know, this wasn’t enough to save Nora,” they said.