Fingerprints found in search for teenager Nora Quoirin missing in Malaysia
Fingerprints have been found in a Malaysian resort cottage from which a vulnerable London teenager went missing four days ago.
Malaysian police have now said they are not ruling out a criminal element to Nora Quoirin's disappearance, despite earlier insisting there were no initial signs of foul play.
The 15-year-old, who has learning difficulties, was reported missing from a forest resort chalet where her family were staying in Negeri Sembilian, Malaysia.
Her family discovered her missing from her bedroom with the window left open at 8am on Sunday morning, and they have said they believe Nora was abducted as she would not wander off by herself.
In a statement, her family said: "We are so completely overwhelmed by the support we have received from all over the world, this is extremely traumatic for the whole family.
"Our family is unable to deal with this at the moment but we must remain hopeful and we ask everyone to keep Nora in their thoughts and to continue to support the ongoing support for her.
"Nora is still missing and she is very vulnerable and we need to do everything we can to bring her home," they added.
At a press conference, Negeri Sembilan deputy police chief Che Zakaria Othman said: "Although we classify this case as a missing person (case), but we are not ruling out any possibility.
"That's why the process of this investigations is very wide."
He added: "We have taken a few (fingerprint samples), and we sent them all to the fingerprint department of Bukit Aman (National Police HQ) for comparisons."
Mr Zakaria Othman declined to give further details.
Meanwhile, search efforts entered their third day on Wednesday, with rescue workers combing the nearby jungle in search of the schoolgirl.
On Tuesday, Malaysian authorities said more than 160 people from different emergency services have joined the search.
Sniffer dogs, helicopters, fire and rescue services, civil defence and forestry departments have all been deployed to search the dense jungle and hilly terrain.
In the initial search, sniffer dogs picked up the girl's scent within 100 metres from her resort bedroom but the trail stopped there.
Nora's family have said the London schoolgirl had learning and developmental disabilities, and her family have insisted she would not have wandered off by herself.
“We are especially worried because Nora 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't understand what is going on,” the statement said.
"She never goes anywhere by herself. We have no reason to believe she wandered off and is lost."
A Go Fund Me page has been set up by Ms Quoirin's aunt Aisling Agnew, and has raised more than £51,000 of its target of £50,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Nora's father is French and her mother is from Belfast, although the couple have lived in London for the last 20 years.
In both French and English, Ms Agnew stated on the website: "Nora is my niece.
"Her parents and our families in Ireland and France are distraught by her disappearance.
"Nora is a child with special needs and has learning and developmental disabilities which make her especially vulnerable and we fear for her safety.
"On behalf of our entire family, we are appealing to everyone to assist the local police in any way they can, if you are close by please get out and join the search and pass on any information that would help locate our beloved Nóra without delay."