SEREMBAN: Rescuers faced a real challenge getting to the scene and retrieving the body of Nora Anne Quoirin, 15.
After being informed of the discovery of the body at 1.57pm on Tuesday, search-and-rescue (SAR) team members got into several vehicles, including fourwheel-drives, and rushed to the location some 2.5km from the resort where she was reported missing on Aug 4.
However, the jungle track became too narrow for the vehicles and the team had to continue on foot, walking another 500m along slippery and steep slopes, made more treacherous by roots and stones.
A member of the team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the team had to wade through two deep streams.
When they arrived at the scene, they found Nora’s body lying on a rock near a stream, he said.
It is learnt that the team was prepared to carry her body out of the jungle, but the team’s superior decided that the body would be winched out on a helicopter to
save time. This was because carrying her body through the treacherous terrain would have taken some time.
“The whole process took some time as we had to clear the area (of branches and leaves) so that the helicopter could winch her body up,” said the team member.
When the helicopter arrived, it began to hover low over the area and Nora’s body was winched up and flown to SMK King George V’s school field, arriving at 6.45pm.
From there, an ambulance took the body to the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital (HTJ) mortuary.
Nora’s parents, Sebastien Marie Philipe Quoirin and Meabh Jaseprine Quoirin, identified the body as that of their daughter.
A post-mortem by pathologists from HTJ and Kuala Lumpur Hospital was conducted the next day, taking almost 10 hours. The post-mortem revealed that Nora died of starvation, perhaps two or three days before her body was found. It also revealed no evidence of abduction or rape.