The disappearance of teenager Nora Quoirin is, understandably, the most heart-breaking story of the summer.
In a way, it brings frightening reminders of the disappearances of Madeleine McCann and Mary Boyle.
Nora’s parents, Meabh and Sebastien, pray their 15-year-old will be found alive after she disappeared from their holiday home at the edge of the Malaysian jungle.
All Ireland, and much of the rest of the world including France, where Seb is from, and London, where the family live, is praying with them.
The family of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared a week before her fourth birthday while on holiday in Portugal 12 years ago, still prays that, some day, she too may be found alive.
Relatives of Mary Boyle, who vanished aged six on a farm in south Donegal 42 years ago, long ago accepted that she is dead and may have been murdered. They still pray that her killer will be traced and prosecuted.
The hunt for Nora Quoirin reflects different aspects of the initial searches for Mary and Madeleine.
For a long time, the public perception was that Mary may have been lost in a remote bog-hole or was abducted by a passing stranger on the lonely adjoining road.
There was never any doubt what happened to Madeleine. She was abducted, and despite a bungled early investigation by Portuguese police her parents hold on to the vague hope that her kidnapper didn’t kill her.
Nora’s disappearance has already stirred conflict in the investigation.
Her family have been convinced from the moment she vanished that she was abducted.
The police, although keeping all options open, are still treating the situation as a missing person case and have already narrowed the search area to a smaller portion of the jungle around the holiday resort at Dusun.
Nora’s family have been warm in their praise of the searchers and the police but they must feel frustrated that the hunt is so localised and hasn’t been extended further afield as would be expected when investigating abduction.
It’s too early to suspect protection of tourism in Malaya is a factor.
The police do appear genuine in their reasons for placing a likely abduction down the list of investigative priorities.
But perhaps they should give more credence to Meabh and Sebastien’s account that their daughter is very unlikely to have wandered outdoors on her own.
Nora has holoprosencephaly, a condition that occurs when the brain fails to divide properly into the right and left hemispheres.
As a result, she has learning and developmental disabilities, looks younger than most 15-year-olds and is incapable of caring for herself.
In outlining her condition, her family added achingly: “Nora is not like other teenagers. She is not independent and does not go anywhere alone.”
We can only pray fervently that Nora is found soon, and that her family doesn’t have to bear the never-ending anguish shared by the relatives of Madeleine McCann and Mary Boyle.
