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Malaysian police are analyzing fingerprints found in a forest resort cottage where a 15-year-old Irish girl was reported missing, and have not ruled out a possible criminal element.<\/p>\nMalaysian police are analyzing fingerprints found in a forest resort cottage where a 15-year-old Irish girl was reported missing, and have not ruled out a possible criminal element.<\/p>\n
Police had earlier said there were no initial signs of foul play in N\u00f3ra Quoirin\u2019s disappearance from the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Her family discovered her missing from her bedroom and say they believe she was abducted.<\/p>\n
Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief Che Zakaria Othman said a forensic team was analyzing fingerprints found in the cottage where the girl disappeared from but declined to give details.<\/p>\n
He said it was the window in a downstairs hall that was left open, and not the one in the bedroom upstairs where the girl was sleeping with her two siblings.<\/p>\n
He declined to say if the window could be opened from the outside, saying the investigation was ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we classified this case as a missing person but we are not ruling out any possibility\u2026 the scale of investigation and the search and rescue is very big for a small place here,\u201d he told a news conference. He said the investigation includes a possible criminal element.<\/p>\n
Media reports say that a least 20 people have been questioned by police in relation to the investigation.<\/p>\n
N\u00f3ra’s family and staff at the resort they were staying at have been interviewed, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Scuba divers have also been deployed to search a river in Malaysia for a missing Irish teenager. <\/p>\n
Mr Zakaria said a special team from federal police headquarters as well as from forensics and criminal investigation departments were assisting.<\/p>\n
The rescue operation involves more than 200 people working on shifts through the night but police still have no clues to the girl\u2019s whereabouts and are appealing for information, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have hope and believe that she is still in the area. There is no information to show that she has left the area,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The girl\u2019s family insisted in a statement on Tuesday that they did not believe she had wandered off on her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cN\u00f3ra\u2019s family believe she has been abducted,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are especially worried because N\u00f3ra has learning and developmental disabilities, and is not like other 15-year-olds. She looks younger, she is not capable of taking care of herself, and she won\u2019t understand what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her parents are an Irish-French couple who have lived in London for about 20 years, according to the Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity that supports people involved in a crisis overseas.<\/p>\n
N\u00f3ra arrived with her family on Saturday for a two-week stay at the Dusun, a small resort in an orchard next to a forest reserve about 40 miles south of Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
Some of the girl\u2019s relatives were seen trekking at the hill in the search on Wednesday. Police blocked access to the resort due to the search operation.<\/p>\n
Officers have expanded the search to the riverbed at the foothill of the resort on the assumption that she could head downhill to try to find water. Local villagers and police dog teams have also been deployed to try to find her.<\/p>\n