Yahoo News Nora Quoirin starved after spending week alone in jungle, Malaysian police say
Missing 15-year-old Nora Quoirin starved to death after spending a week in the Malaysian jungle on her own, police have said.
An autopsy carried out on the teenager this week found found that the teenager died from “intestinal bleeding due to starvation and stress”.
Nora’s body was found by a river about 1.6 miles (2.6km) from the area where she had been on holiday with her parents and two siblings and was unclothed when she was discovered, police had previously said.
Two days after she went missing, her family said they did not think she would have wandered off alone and believed she had been abducted.
The Quoirins said her condition meant she was not independent and had difficulty walking.
But Negeri Sembilan state police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said the post-mortem examination found no evidence Nora had been abducted or raped.
He said: “For the time being, there is no element of abduction or kidnapping.”
“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,” he added.
Mr Sembilan added that there were some bruises on her legs but that these would not have caused her death.
Nora was estimated to have been dead for up to three days when her body was found, investigators said.
The results of the post-mortem examination were revealed by police investigators on Thursday.
Nora, who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly and was described by her family as "vulnerable", disappeared on Sunday August 4.
Her body was found on Tuesday beside a small stream about 1.6 miles from the resort of Dusun, where she had been on holiday with her parents and two siblings.
Read more from Yahoo News UK:
Britain's 'smallest detached house' could be snapped up for £150k
Girl, 11, is one of Scotland’s youngest victims of revenge porn
Monkey skulls seized from addresses in Devon following morning raids
Nora's devastated family previously said their "hearts are broken" and paid tribute to her as "the truest, most precious girl".
They said Nora, who lived in London and was the daughter of French-Irish parents Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin, had "truly touched the world" after her disappearance sparked a huge search operation in Malaysia and well-wishes across the globe.
Hundreds of people were involved in the search operation and it was volunteer helpers who found her body.
Sean Yeap, who was part of the group that found Nora’s body, said the teenager “looked like she was sleeping” and had her head “resting on her hands”.
A book of condolence was opened on Wednesday at the City Hall in Belfast, where Mrs Quoirin is from, with Lord Mayor of Belfast John Finucane the first to sign it.
He said the teenager's death was "heart-breaking", and praised the "clear and positive" show of solidarity from the Belfast public.
A special service was held earlier in the week at the south Belfast church where Nora was baptised and where her grandparents are parishioners.
