One week into search for British teen Jay Slater missing in Tenerife – here is what we know so far

by UAE Breaking
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It has been a week since British teenager Jay Slater went missing on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Jay Slater has not been heard from since 17 June. Pic: PA

The 19-year-old went missing while on holiday with friends on June 17, and mountain rescue teams and police have launched a search for him.

Mr Slater’s family have also flown to the island to try to trace him, and a GoFundMe appeal to raise funds for the search exceeded £30,000 over the weekend.

In his final phone call to a friend he said he was lost and needed water, and that his phone battery had died as he tried to walk back to his accommodation after an 11-hour journey.

Mr Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn, Lancashire, was last seen by friends at the NRG festival on Sunday June 16.

Here’s what we know so far about his last known movements and the search for him:

Timeline of his last known movements

Sunday afternoon – Mr Slater attends the NRG festival in the south of Tenerife with a group of friends. He then travels to Masca, a mountain village in the northwest, with two people he met at the festival.

Monday, around 8am – Ofelia Medina Hernandez, the last person known to have spoken to Mr Slater, says that when she asked him, he told her the bus was coming at 10am. He leaves on foot, but she then passes him “quickly on foot”.

Monday, 8:15 a.m. – He called his girlfriend, Lucy Law, to say he got lost while trying to walk from Masca to his accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south.

Monday, 8:50 a.m. – His last known location was Parque Rural de Teno, a mountain area popular with hikers.

Monday, 9:04 a.m. – He has been reported missing.

Mr Slater’s last known location was Rural de Teno Park

Last Call – Via Phone

The last person to speak to Mr Slater was his girlfriend, Lucy Law. She said he called her on Monday morning to say he was lost, needed water and his phone had only one percent charge.

During a brief phone call, he tells her that he has missed the bus on his way to his holiday accommodation and would like to walk instead, a journey that will take 11 hours.

She told the Manchester Evening News that someone Mr Slater had met on a night out had driven him back to her apartment in a hire car, unaware of how far he was.

“He ended up in the middle of nowhere and Jay obviously thought he was coming back from there,” she told the paper.

Britain Tonight programme that Mr Slater had called her saying he didn’t know where he was, needed a “drink” and had “cut his foot on a cactus”.

Emergency workers near the village of Masca, Tenerife. Pic: PA

He had no food or water and was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts, she added. “It’s very hot during the day but very cold at night,” she said.

Ms Law said before the phone was cut off that she had missed a bus on her way to her holiday accommodation and was trying to walk home – a journey that takes 11 hours.

Questions about why Slater tried to walk

Ms Law said she had “found the house” where Slater was last seen.

Two people inside the house told her that Slater had gone outside to smoke a cigarette and wanted to go back inside, she added.

“I spoke to some neighbours and they told me there was a bus to Los Cristianos every 10 minutes,” she said.

“The bus stop was right next to the house, so if he was on the bus, he obviously couldn’t have got lost because the bus stop was visible from the front door.”

The owner of the property where he was last seen, a woman who gave her name as Ophelia, told reporters: “I saw Mr Slater walking down the road in front of her property but never saw him again after that. She said she was worried about the situation.

The property where Jay Slater is believed to have last been seen

The Search for Mr Slater

Helicopters, rescue dogs and drones searched through grassy terrain, hillsides and rivers for several days.

On Friday, police, firefighters and search and rescue teams combed a vast area in and around the village of Maska before narrowing their search to the area where the boy’s cell phone last rang.

Private security guards from the Canary Islands were seen circling two buildings at the bottom of a ravine in rural Teno Park on Sunday.

Members of a search and rescue team search near the last known location of Jay Slater. Pic: PA

Searchers on the seventh day of the search for Mr Slater were seen peering into a blue barrel outside one of the small buildings.

Mr Slater’s family has set up a Facebook group to help find him by analysing aerial photographs, CCTV footage and social media footage.

A search team near the village of Masca on Sunday. Pic: PA

A missing person notice poster states that Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, shorts and sweatshirt and carrying a black bag.

What are authorities saying?

Spanish private security told British media it was “leaving no stone unturned” in the search for Mr Slater.

“A specialist mountain rescue and intervention group called Graeme has been deployed.”

Lancashire Police said it had offered to help Spanish police “if additional personnel are required” but the offer had been rejected.

The police added: “They confirmed they believe they have the necessary resources at the moment, but the offer stands and they will be in touch if the position changes.”

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”

Members of the Guardia Civil near the last known location of Jay Slater, near to the village of Masca, Tenerife, where the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, continues. Picture date: Sunday June 23, 2024.
Image:Pic: PA
Statements from people close to Mr Slater

Mr Slater’s father, Warren Slater, Saturday that he was “hoping someone would help him off that mountain”.

The father flew to Tenerife with the missing teenager’s brother Zach to help with the search and described the past few days as a “nightmare”.

Meanwhile Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, urged her missing son to come home for the weekend. “I just want him to come home.”

Ms Duncan said he had “not slept a wink” since the disappearance.

The construction company that employs the missing teenager has taken to social media to try and dispel rumours and conspiracy theories that have been circulating since his disappearance.

PH Build wrote on Facebook: “Jay has been with us since he left school and is loved by everyone. He is a valued member of our team and we stand by him.

“The picture being painted of him is simply not true. He was in fact a 19-year-old boy who went missing abroad. He must return home where he belongs. Now, Jay, we are all praying for you.”

Coronation Street star Vicky Entwistle, best known for playing Janice Battersby in the soap, is godmother to Mr Slater’s grandmother.

She posted on X on June 18: “Godmother’s grandson has gone missing. His mother arrived at 7pm and has joined the police search. Let’s pray to God they find him. Please [pray] for him.”

Mr Slater’s stepfather Andy Watson told The Sun that his stepson was “not stupid” and “very clever” but may have lost his bearings in the darkness.

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