Family of 'fun, funny, and extremely loving' missing teen Nóra Quoirin release statement
The family of the teenage girl who has gone missing in Malaysia has described her as "fun, funny, and extremely loving'' as they await news from authorities.
Malaysian police say they are checking the phone and email records of staff at the resort where Nóra Quoirin was last seen at the weekend.
Nóra, whose parents are Irish and French, has special needs and was last seen on Sunday morning south of Kuala Lumpur.
Her family maintain that she has been abducted but Malaysian police are still treating it as a missing persons case.
In a statement to RTÉ News, Nóra's family described her challenges.
"Nóra was born with Holoprosencephaly; this means that she has a smaller brain. All her life she has spent a lot of time in hospital," the statement explained.
"When she was born, she needed operations to help her breathing. She has specialists that monitor her growth, her physical abilities and her strength, and especially her mental capacity. Nóra has always needed dedicated specialist educational provision, and now attends a school for children and young people with learning and communication difficulties."
They also described Nóra as "fun, funny, and extremely loving" but also said she is not independent.
Nóra is a very special person. She is fun, funny, and extremely loving. With her family, she is very affectionate - family is her whole world and she loves to play games, like Cat Bingo, with us.
"She likes to tell us silly jokes and wear clever, colourful t-shirts. She is not like other teenagers. She is not independent and does not go anywhere alone.
Nóra is bi-lingial and has travelled throughout Europe and Asia before with her family, the statement said, however, she is rarely away from her family.
"Nóra is very sensitive. Outside the family, Nóra is very shy and can be quite anxious," the family said.
"The family would again like to take this opportunity to express their sincere thanks to the Royal Malaysian Police, and all those searching for Nóra. Some of these people have been working all day, every day and the family cannot express their gratitude enough," they concluded.
Police chief Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop told Malaysian publication that the missing 15-year-old’s family members are not part of the search operations for security reasons.
Mr Mohamad said Nora was believed to have climbed out of her resort room window.
“An able-bodied or normal person would be weak by the fifth day, and that is why we need to find the victim as soon as possible,” he said.
Nora’s photograph is being handed out at roadblocks in the area.
Her family has said they remain hopeful after police leading the investigation refused to rule out a “criminal element”.
