Was Nora Quoirin’s body DUMPED near waterfall? Heartbroken family of British schoolgirl found dead i
The body of Nora Quoirin has been found in the Malaysian jungle near a waterfall that the missing schoolgirl had excitedly talked about visiting.
The grim discovery was made more than a week after the 15-year-old disappeared from an eco-resort during a two-week family holiday.
Her body was found unclothed by a group of hikers who had joined the tenth day of a widespread search operation across the perilous terrain.
The teenager's devastated family faced an agonising wait last night to find out whether her death had resulted from an accident or a crime.
Police chiefs insisted the disappearance was still being treated as a missing persons case, though a parallel criminal probe remains open.
Investigators said they were awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination before deciding on the next steps.
Matthew Searle, head of missing persons charity the Lucie Blackman Trust, which is working with Nora's family, said: 'It's absolutely the outcome that none of us was hoping for.
'They [the family] are going to have a large amount of questions.
'One of those questions is has the body been there all the time or is there a criminal involvement? Was the body dumped there afterwards?'
Volunteers discovered Nora's body at 1.57pm yesterday close to a stream at the foot of a ravine on Berembun mountain, 1.6 miles from the Dusun resort where Nora's family was staying.
The area, which is popular with local tourists and located in an area known as the Pantai hills, had previously been searched – but no clues were found.
The Dusun resort offers guided tours to the Lata Berembun waterfall, involving a 20-minute trek to the jungle entrance and a further one-hour walk along a defined jungle trail.
In a sad twist, it emerged yesterday that the teenager – who was born with a debilitating brain condition – had been keenly anticipating a trip to the waterfall.
Only hours before her body was discovered, a member of the hiking club that found her said the group had been instructed to check the location.
Shirley Yap, who was among a group of around 20 volunteers from the nearby town of Seremban, said: 'We had heard she was excited about seeing a waterfall when she arrived in the resort.'
The hikers, including leader Kenny Chan, were taken to give statements at a police station in the nearby village of Pantai, which served as the headquarters for the search operation.
Following the discovery, the schoolgirl's devastated parents, Meabh and Sebastien, were taken to the area where her body was found.
They were later supported at the resort by relatives who had flown in from Singapore, London and Glasgow.
Nora had travelled to the 12-acre resort on August 3 with her parents, sister Innes, 12, and brother Maurice, eight.
After going to sleep with her siblings in an upstairs bedroom, she was discovered missing by her French father shortly after 8am the following morning.
Police were left with no clues about her whereabouts other than that a large downstairs window at the property had been left ajar.
Sniffer dogs lost her scent around 100 yards from the two-storey holiday cottage.
It is understood that Nora was wearing only underwear at the time of her disappearance, while a police chief previously confirmed that she was barefoot at the time.
Read more from Daily Mail