SEREMBAN: A volunteer hiker who participated in the search for Nora Anne Quoirin, 15, had never imagined that his group would find the body of the Irish teenager after 10 days of search and rescue (SAR) operations conducted by various security agencies.
Kenny Chan Kai Sian, 43, said before the discovery of the body, the hiking team conducted a search along the river and they had split into two groups.
"We split into two groups, one on the left and one on the right, to expand the search area.
"My group which was on the left side suddenly saw a body about 20m in front of us, a member of our group who saw the body yelled at us not to approach it as it would interfere with the elements of evidence required by the police," he said when contacted, here.
Chan said when the group discovered the body, he was still hoping for the best and it never crossed his mind that the body would be of Nora Anne.
"I didn't dare to stare at the corpse and just glanced at it from a distance. Without hesitation, I contacted the police regarding the discovery of the body," he said.
However, Chan said he was not sure if anyone else had found the body before them.
The group of hikers joined the search for Nora Anne on Aug 11.
Nora Anne's body was found at 1.57pm yesterday, 10 days after she went missing from a resort in Pantai, Negri Sembilan, on Aug 4.
The teen with learning disabilities was found missing from her room by her family members at 8am, a day after they arrived in Malaysia for a two-week holiday. — BERNAMA