Spanish police officers leading the mountain search for missing Jay Slater said the two Britons who hid him the night before his disappearance are “not connected” to the police investigation.
Cipriano Martin, head of the Guardia Civil Agency’s Graeme Mountain Rescue Team, said as the search for the 19-year-old entered its 12th day with a massive search operation by police, fire services and other mountain experts.
He said, “They are listening but they are not connected to this case,” and when asked if Jay’s family would be joining today’s search, he said, “They have been participating all week because we have them. They have seen us in several places. They have actively participated.”
Today’s search began at Hilda Lookout, near where Jay’s mobile phone last “beeped,” and involves about 30 experts, including police officers, firefighters, mountain rescuers and six more volunteers. .
Covers 8 kilometers in one direction and 4 kilometers in the other direction. “The operation will consist of a thorough search with the people who came here today because at this altitude we need to move forward by ruling out areas and making sure the search areas are consistent with the work we’re doing,” Martin said. “It was done this week and has been thoroughly examined and can be ruled out.
“And of course, it’s done based on the information we have, and that information is his last known whereabouts, the conversations he had on the day he disappeared, and that’s why we’re focusing on searching this area. “
Asked if all options are being considered, Martin said: “Until we know, we can’t focus on one hypothesis, we’re looking at multiple possibilities,” and asked which areas will be targeted, the official said: “Masca, Juan Lopez Canyon and Retamar Canyon are being studied.” , Las Anias Valley, Los Carrizales Valley, all the areas we know he’d been in because there was good cell phone reception and they knew he was there.
“But we ran into a problem: when he turns his phone off, the antennas don’t get reception. So while he was running — and we don’t know how long he was running — the utility poles don’t see him. And as the technicians say, it’s not a person they’re looking for, it’s a cell phone. We’ve gotten to the point where we need to get certain information and build on that, too.”
When I ask if the most important information they have is the last location where Jay’s phone was pinged, he replies, “We can’t make too many assumptions either.” Advice is based on the information we have.
Another reason to consider this hypothesis is when he called his girlfriend Lucy to say he got a cut from a cactus and was worried because he didn’t know if it was poisonous and she told him “Don’t worry, he’s not poisonous”.
“But to do that you have to get off the road because you can’t get hurt by a cactus on the road and he obviously had to get to the mountains.”
The day he disappeared he responded: The morning he disappeared he was spotted around 8:10am on the way to the viewpoint, very close to where we are now. We then found out he was here by his cell phone and further found out he was here by the location of his phone that he reported.
“We’re taking advantage of the fact that there are a lot of people here today, so we can do a thorough search, and we’re expanding the search to areas that we’ve already searched. We have a drone, but it’s mainly one person searching with the other’s vision, so we don’t miss anything in between.
“In a way, we can see more than a drone, because a drone gives you a view from the sky, but with someone next to you you can see everything. And the instructions are that the searchers not to take their information, keep an eye on each other, so that there are no gaps in the search. “
When asked if there were certain areas that posed particular challenges, Martin replied: “Yes, there are certain areas that are difficult. “We told them not to take unnecessary risks, but one thing is clear: Jay would not have gone into areas that we couldn’t go into.”
“You have to think logically. If he saw in front of me a big cactus with thorns that would hurt me and prevent me from getting through, he wouldn’t have done that either. It’s common sense. When asked if it’s possible to go directly to the sea via these areas, Martin replied:
“In fact last Saturday I did the whole path that goes down the Juan Lopez ravine because there are very old footpaths that are used very seldomly because they’re not of much interest to sports enthusiasts, but you can reach the beach.
I reached the beach. We didn’t see anything, but it’s a route that you do via a path not via the ravine. Following the ravine itself it’s not practical because there are parts where you need a rope to lower yourself down and we know Jay is not going to do that because he’s not equipped for it.”