Jay Slater: the search continues for a British teenager who went missing a week ago after a music festival in Spain’s Canary Islands.
The case has kept internet sleuths on their toes, spreading rumours and conspiracy theories online, and Spanish police are concerned that the confusion could harm the search.
Here’s what we know about Jay Slater’s disappearance:
Who is Jay Slater?
Jay Slater is a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire in the northwest of England.
He went missing on Sunday 16 June after attending a music festival in Tenerife.
When Mr Slater called his travelling companion Lucy Law to say he was lost and wanted to walk back to his accommodation but needed water, his friends raised the alarm.
Mr Slater said his phone battery only had 1% charge, the conversation was interrupted.
Where did he disappear to?
Mr Slater’s last known location was a mountain pass in Rural de Teno Park, identified by a ping from his mobile phone.
The national park is located in the northwest of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa.
The 19-year-old and two friends had been attending a music festival at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, a tourist spot in the south of Tenerife.
His friends say they last saw him when he left Playa de las Americas in a car with two men he had met while on holiday.
He and the two are believed to have driven to an apartment in the village of Masca.
The property owner told reporters he had seen Slater walking past his property, down a steep path.
BBC reporters described the rural Teno Park as “remote wilderness” and said deep ravines and high mountains made the search difficult for rescue teams.
What do we know so far?
Sunday, June 16
- Jay Slater and two friends attend the final day of the NRG music festival in Playa de las Américas.
Monday, June 17
- Between 3am and 6am: According to friends, Mr Slater gets into a car with two men he met while on holiday.
- About 7:30am: Mr Slater tags Parque Rural de Teno Buenavista del Norte in a Snapchat post
- About 8:15am: Mr Slater calls Ms Law to say he had missed a bus and was planning to walk back to their accommodation. The call cuts out.
Tuesday, June 18
- His friends search the area around their accommodation after Mr Slater fails to return home.
- Local police and mountain rescue teams begin searching.
Wednesday, June 19
- Spain’s Guardia Civil, one of the country’s two national enforcement agencies, continues the search with drones, dogs and a helicopter.
- A potential sighting sees the search briefly moved to Los Cristianos but police rule out this lead and return to the original search area.
Thursday, June 20
- The Guardia Civil, mountain rescue, firefighters and volunteers continue to search Rural de Teno Park.
Friday, June 21
- Lancashire Police releases a statement saying it has offered to help the search.
- Rescue teams focus on paths in a valley surrounding Masca, as well as two ravines.
- Police investigate near the apartment Mr Slater had reportedly travelled to.
Saturday, June 22
- The search continues around Masca.
What’s being said online?
Speculation about Mr Slater’s fate circulated online, sparking a search effort that has exploded.
Numerous Facebook groups have been set up to discuss theories about his whereabouts.
Social media users have suggested he may have been abducted or is in hiding, but police have not put forward these theories.
His mother, Debbie Duncan, said Spanish police were concerned that online conversations could negatively affect the search.
“They actually said there was too much noise which was affecting the search,” she said.
Several fundraising pages were set up through GoFundMe but were later blocked after questions were raised about the identity of the organisers.
A Facebook group purportedly set up by Slater’s family said Duncan did not want the pages set up.
The administrator of a Facebook page set up to assist in the search also said someone other than Slater had logged into the 19-year-old’s Instagram account.
