France has expressed gratitude to Malaysia for the relentless efforts taken by the country’s authorities to locate Franco-Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin who went missing during a holiday in Malaysia.

French Minister of State attached to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, conveyed the message through a telephone call yesterday to Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement today.

"Marzuki extended to Lemoyne Malaysia’s sympathies and deepest condolences on the demise of the late Nora Anne," it said.

The body of Nora Anne, a 15-year-old special-needs girl, was found on Tuesday afternoon about two kilometres from The Dusun resort in Negeri Sembilan where she and her family checked in on Aug 3 for a two-week holiday.

A massive search-and-rescue operation was launched following her disappearance on Aug 4, involving various authorities including the police, military, fire and rescue service and civil defence force as well as the Orang Asli and volunteer hikers.

French, Irish and British police also assisted the Malaysian police in the investigation into the case.

Nora Anne's father Sebastien Marie Philipe is French while her mother Meabh Jaseprine Quoirin is Irish.

- Bernama