Police in Malaysia are treating the disappearance of a "very vulnerable" 15-year-old London girl as an abduction and a missing person case, a charity has said.

Nora Quoirin, who has learning difficulties, went missing while on a family holiday in the southeast Asian country.

She vanished at the weekend in a resort near Seremban, around 40 miles (64.4km) south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The Lucie Blackman Trust (LBT) said Nora's father raised the alarm when he discovered she was missing from her bedroom at 8am on Sunday and her window was open.

Che Zakaria, the deputy police chief in Negeri Semblian, the state where Nora went missing, told Sky News authorities had a 165-strong search and rescue team from a number of different departments taking part in the operation to find the missing teenager.


The team has been working through the night and are using police sniffer dogs to search the area, which is mostly rainforest,

He added: "We are still conducting a search. We have covered about 12km radius from the scene of the incident."

Image: Nora with her mother Meabh Quoirin

Nora, whose mother Meabh is originally from Belfast and whose father is French, is understood to have been travelling on an Irish passport.

The family have been living in London for around 20 years.

The police in Malaysia have ruled out "foul play", but the charity, which is supporting the family, said: "The Lucie Blackman Trust has been informed that Malaysian police are now treating the disappearance of 15-year-old Nora Quoirin as an abduction. Her family are with police now."

The organisation's chief executive Matthew Searle said: "This is a very vulnerable young girl missing in a remote location.

"She has been missing for over 24 hours now and it is imperative that every resource available is deployed to search for her."

Speaking from Belfast, Nora's aunt Aisling Agnew said the girl's parents and relatives in Ireland and France were "distraught".

"Nora is a child with special needs and has learning and developmental disabilities which make her especially vulnerable and we fear for her safety," she said.

"Nora would not know how to get help and would never leave her family voluntarily. We now consider this a criminal matter.

"We are appealing to everyone to assist the local police in any way they can and to pass on any information that would help locate our beloved Nora without delay."

Family friend Catherine Cook said it was "out of character" for Nora to go "wandering off".

She added: "To my knowledge the French government and the Irish government are helping them and it would be great if other agencies or governments worldwide could support them."

A spokesman for Ireland's department of foreign affairs said: "We are aware of the case and providing consular assistance."