SEREMBAN: Police are certain that the body found some 2.5km from The Dusun resort, here, is that of missing Irish teenager, Nora Anne Quoirin.
Although the identity cannot be immediately confirmed, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor said they had “reasonable suspicion” that the body found was that of the 15-year-old special needs teen.
“(In fact) we are very certain of it, but let’s wait for the family to confirm,” he told reporters.
The body was found without any clothing, he said, but added that it was still too early to say if there were any criminal elements involved and will be known once a post-mortem examination is completed.
Mazlan said the body was found by a group of hikers who were registered volunteers participating in the search.
He said the search and rescue (SAR) team had already checked the area but did not explain how they had missed it.
The body, said Mazlan, was flown to the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital, here, for post-mortem examination.
“I have met with (Nora Anne’s) family and the family will go to the hospital soon to identify the body,” he said.
Earlier, Negri Sembilan police chief Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop said the body of a “female Caucasian” was found at 1.57pm.
“My deputy (Senior Assistant Commissioner Che Zakaria Othman) and forensics unit policemen went in at 2.05pm and reached the site at 2.30pm,” he told reporters, adding that the body was “still intact”.
The situation was tense around the resort where Quoirin went missing as police forensics unit vehicles were seen entering and leaving earlier today.
This was the 10th day of the search for Quoirin, the eldest of three children.
She arrived with her family in Negri Sembilan for a two-week holiday in Malaysia and checked in at the resort the day before she went missing.
On Aug 4, the family discovered Quoirin missing, with a large window in one of the rooms left open.
A massive SAR operation was mounted by several hundred policemen, including members of the famed Senoi Praaq general operations force battalion, other government agencies, Orang Asli villagers and other volunteers.
Helicopters equipped with infrared radars were also deployed in the search.
The family also offered a reward of £10,000 (about RM50,628) for information on Quoirin.