Seremban — Malaysian rescuers Friday stepped up their search for a 15-year-old London girl who vanished from a nature resort six days ago by playing the voice recordings of her mother as they combed the hilly forest terrain.
"Nora darling, Nora, Nora, Mummy's here," the voice of Meabh Quoirin rang out through loudspeakers carried by rescuers, piercing the jungle silence.
The family of Nora Anne Quoirin discovered her missing Sunday morning from the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state.
Police believe the teen climbed out through a window in the living room that was left open and is still in the vicinity of the resort. They are treating her as a missing person but do not rule out a possible criminal element in her disappearance.
Her family however, said Quoirin, who has learning and developmental disabilities, wouldn't have wandered off on her own and has been abducted.
More than 260 people are involved in the operation that also includes aerial search, drones, sniffer dogs and indigenous trackers. Investigators have questioned 20 people and said a forensic team was analyzing fingerprints found in the cottage where the girl went missing.
Quoirin's parents are an Irish-French couple and have lived in London for about 20 years, according to the Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity that supports people involved in crises overseas. Quoirin arrived with her family on Saturday for a two-week stay at the Dusun, a small resort located in a durian orchard next to a forest reserve 63 kilometers (39 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur.
The family has launched crowdfunding efforts to enable more relatives to travel to Malaysia to join the search.
In an appeal on the GoFundMe.com, the family said Nora's disabilities made her especially vulnerable and they fear for her safety.
"Nóra would not know how to get help and would never leave her family voluntarily," the statement said. "More family members are travelling to Malaysia to participate in the search and rescue effort and would appreciate donations to cover any unforeseen expenses or charges incurred in the process."
Negeri Sembilan police chief Che Zakaria Othman said police also sought divine intervention during Muslim Friday prayers.
"After we have conducted our Friday prayers, we conducted a special prayer. We are asking Allah, to help us in finding this missing person Nora Anne Quoirin," he said.