Cops record statements from 20 on missing Irish teen

Police have recorded statements from as many as 20 witnesses, including family members, to assist in the investigation of the missing Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, says deputy Negeri Sembilan police chief Che Zakaria Othman.

Che Zakaria said although investigations into the Irish teenager's case was categorised as ‘missing person’, the police did not rule out any other possibility and the investigation carried out was thorough.

The forensics team has also taken some fingerprints on the windows of the living room, as well as the entire building, which have been sent to Bukit Aman for further action.

"To date, no new clues have been obtained from the search and rescue team," he said.

Che Zakaria added the scale of the operations was huge and had been expanded with the addition of two more search zones to six.

"The number of the members in the SAR operation has also increased to 214 members today compared to 159 yesterday," he said.

Commenting on the family who still believe the victim could have been abducted, he said such a response might be due to the emotional loss of a 15-year-old special needs teenager.

Meanwhile, a SAR member shared his experience and told Bernama that the jungle and dark areas were among the challenges that rescuers had to face.

He said the search area also had many large, slippery rocky areas that required every member to be more careful.

"Today's fourth-day operation began in a gloomy, cloudy weather this morning with light rain compared to previous days when we had good weather," he said.

He said the hilly and steep terrain, filled with huge trees as high as a three-storey building, was not an easy area for such an operation although most of them had extensive experience and training.

Bernama found that the location of the resort near Gunung Berembun with surrounding fruit orchards and forests has made the area one of the tourist attractions.

Located on a hill about 4km from Pekan Pantai, the resort is quite secluded and quiet by day but is very dark at night as there are no street lights around it except for a narrow winding path to the resort.

Security personnel are still blocking the route leading to The Dusun resort, Pantai, which has been the focus of the media for the past four days.

- Bernama