NORA TRAGEDY
Nora Quoirin died after a WEEK from hunger and stress in Malaysian jungle but no sign of kidnap or rape, say cops
NORA Quoirin was alive for a week before dying from hunger and stress - but there was no sign she was raped or kidnapped, cops have revealed today.
The 15-year-old Brit succumbed to "intestinal bleeding" after wandering through the Malaysian jungle as emergency crews desperately searched for her - tragically finding her body three days after she died.
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Negeri Sembilan Police Chief, Mohamad Mat Yusop, today said authorities had found no evidence of foul play despite fears the teen had been abducted and her body dumped.
And he said a post-mortem also found she had not been sexually abused.
Instead, they ruled the teen had died from internal bleeding in her intestine after a stomach ulcer burst, following a period of prolonged hunger and stress.
Speaking today, the police chief said: "The cause of death was upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer, complicated with perforation ... it could be due to a lack of food for a long period of time and due to prolonged stress.
"For the time being, there is no element of abduction or kidnapping."
He added that there were some bruises on her legs but that these would not have caused her death.
"Vulnerable" Nora - who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly - is believed to have been dead for up to three days before being found in a spot search crews had already examined.
This means she could have been wandering through the jungle for a week as emergency services desperately searched for her after she vanished from her family's accommodation at a holiday resort on August 4.
Nora's parents Meabh, 45, and Sebastien, 47, had previously demanded answers about what happened to their daughter as they insisted she would never have wandered off alone.
The desperate search for Nora
August 4: Nora is reported missing after her father discovers she is not in her bedroom at the Dusun Resort at around 8am on Sunday.
The window was also open in the room that Nora had been sharing with her two siblings.
August 5: Missing persons charity The Lucie Blackman Trust says that Malaysian police are treating Nora's disappearance as a potential abduction, but officers deny there is any foul play involved.
August 6: Nora's family say they believe her to have been abducted.
"She never goes anywhere by herself. We have no reason to believe she wandered off and is lost."
August 7: Police say they are analysing unidentified fingerprints an open window and in a downstairs hall found in the family's hotel suite.
August 9: Police investigate whether footprints found in the forest where Nora went missing belong to the missing teen. Her family say she wouldn't have wandered off on her own.
August 10: Nora's family thank the search teams involved since the teenager's disappearance.
August 11: Hundreds of rescuers still involved in the search operation a week after she disappeared.
August 12: A visibly emotional Mrs Quoirin makes a further appeal for her daughter to return home.
"Nora is our first child. She has been vulnerable since the day she was born.
"She is so precious to us and our hearts are breaking. We are appealing to anyone who has information about Nora to help us find her."
A reward of £10,000 - donated by an anonymous Belfast business - is made available for information leading to Nora's safe return.
August 13: A body is found and police said Nora's parents confirmed it was her .
August 14: An initial post-mortem examination inconclusive
August 15: Post-mortem finds that Nora died of intestinal bleeding after a stomach ulcer burst, probably caused by hunger and stress.
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Prior to the post-mortem findings, French prosecutors had joined the probe - as Nora's father is French - to investigate whether the teen was kidnapped before her death.
A lawyer representing the family in France that the parents had filed a complaint “for kidnapping" and were convinced her disappearance is of "criminal" origin.
The family’s spokesman Matthew Searle, of the Lucie Blackman Trust, said they still have “a large amount of questions”.
He said: “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?”
'WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE HER'
In a tribute to Nora, her family said: "We thank the local people here and those far and wide for their prayers and support at this time.
"Nora has brought people together, especially from France, Ireland, Britain and Malaysia, united in their love and support for her and her family.
"To all our friends and family at home, we can't thank you enough for all your love.
"Nora is at the heart of our family. She is the truest, most precious girl and we love her infinitely.
"We will always love our Nora."
It is understood Nora had been wearing underwear when she went missing – but police said when she was found she was “completely naked”.
The officer who has been leading the hunt, Datuk Mazlan Mansor, said she was found in a stream running through a ravine, adding: "The stream was about 1.2km deep in the ravine,” he said.
A volunteer taking part in the search, Sean Yeap, revealed that the body had not been covered in any foliage.
How stomach ulcers can lead to death
When a stomach ulcer bursts - known by the medical term perforation - it can prove life-threatening.
The ulcer eats through the stomach or intestinal lining and that allows the bacteria that live in the stomach to escape and infect the lining of the abdomen - the peritoneum.
This is known as peritonitis.
Peritonitis can very quickly spread and trigger sepsis or blood poisoning, before spreading to other organs and causing organ failure.
If left untreated, it can prove fatal.
Ulcers can be caused by a range of things, from H.pylori bacteria in the digestive tract to certain medications, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen.
While it's not a direct cause, extreme stress can make an underlying ulcer worse and make complications like perforation more likely, according to the Mayo Clinic.
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Nora's parents visited the site where her body was found and later identified her body at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital.
The teenager was discovered missing from her bedroom at the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on the morning of Sunday August 4, with the window left open.
She was on "trip of a lifetime" with her family including sister Innes, 12 and brother Maurice, eight, at the time of her disappearance.
The teen had only arrived the day earlier with her parents and two siblings at the resort in a nature reserve near Seremban, 39 miles south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
A volunteer searcher told the Nora had told her parents she was "excited" about seeing a waterfall.
Nora's parents are an Irish-French couple who have lived in London for about 20 years.
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The Dusun is a 12-acre orchard resort next to the Berembun Forest Reserve - 4,000 acres of protected virgin forest rising to 3,900 feet.
Nearly 350 people were involved in a massive search operation that included sniffer dogs, elite commando forces and thermal detectors.
Shamans were even brought in to pray for her safe return and video footage showed them praying cross legged on the jungle floor.
Nora Quoirin post-mortem is inconclusive, cops reveal after Brit girl, 15, was found dead in Malaysian jungle
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Lawyer representing Nora Quoirin's family says her passing is highly traumatic
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