Dog teams continue Tenerife search

11 minutes ago

Specialist dog teams have continued the search for a British teenager who went missing after a night out in Tenerife.

Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, traveled to the Spanish island for a music festival on his first holiday without his parents.

But the 19-year-old has not been heard from since he called a friend shortly before 09:00 BST on Monday, saying he was lost and needed water.

Spanish police would not comment when asked about reports of a sighting of Mr Slater at about 18:00 later that day.

On the sixth day of the search, police, rescue dog teams and firefighters returned in the mountainous terrain at Rural de Teno National Park, Mr Slater’s last known location.

Lancashire Police said on Friday it had offered to support officers on the island in their efforts to locate Mr Slater, but added their counterparts were “satisfied that they have the resources they need”.

The apprentice bricklayer’s friends and family have said he had earlier left the group he traveled with in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas, on the south of the island.

After leaving the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club, he got in a car with two men he had met to drive to the national park in north-west Tenerife.

The administrator of a Facebook page set up to help find Mr Slater said someone who was not the 19-year-old had logged in to his Instagram account.

Rachel Louise Harg said a fundraising page had gathered more than £26,000, which would help family and friends staying in Tenerife while the hunt continued.

People who had been “hacking” the social media accounts of Mr Slater’s family were “sick in the head”, she said.

Specialist officers are continuing to support Mr Slater’s family, Lancashire Police said.

The Reverend Matt Smith, from West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle, said a service on Sunday would be “a chance for the community to come together”.

“It will be a normal service and we will offer our prayers for Jay and give an opportunity for people to leave messages for him and light candles,” he said.

“We are continuing to pray for Jay and hold his family in our prayers.”

Deryn Regan, who owns West End Fish and Chips in Oswaldtwistle, said the community was in “shock” over the disappearance of Mr Slater, who was a customer.

“Everybody knows everyone so, for something like this to happen in our area, it does sadden us all,” she said.

“I’ve got two young sons myself so, for one of them to go missing, I would be absolutely devastated, so I do really feel for the mother.”

Pauline Stables, 63, who is a barmaid at Hare and Hounds, said she remembered Mr Slater as a young boy.

“I do know his mum, Debbie, quite well and it’s her I’m feeling sorry for,” she said.

“I just can’t imagine the pain that she is going through, and the rest of her family, it’s just awful – just come home to us.”

On Friday, search teams appeared to be methodically scouring a mountain road and focusing on a ravine, before moving to a valley in the village of Masca.

Dog teams were scouring an area near farm buildings for much of the day, while police and mountain rescue officials examined a steep patch of land behind the apartment Mr Slater had reportedly traveled to.

The operation carefully combed through dead palm trees covering a river at the bottom of the hillside near to the property.

Investigators have been taking away bags of rubbish from the area to try and find any clues.

The apartment owner told reporters she saw Mr Slater walk up the road past her property but did not see him again after that, describing the situation as “worrying”.

In a statement, Lancashire Police said it had “made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources”.

The British force said the Spanish police had confirmed “at this time they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but that offer remains open and they will contact us should that position change”.

It added: “Our thoughts remain with Jay’s family and friends at this distressing time.”

Mr Slater was on his first holiday without family and had traveled to attend the festival with two friends.

Lucy Law, thought to have been the last person to speak to him, said he told her in their call that he had missed a bus and decided to walk the 10-hour journey home but was lost, needed water and his phone was on 1 % battery.

The Rural de Teno is about a 40-minute drive from where Mr Slater and his friends were staying.

A remote and wild national park, it is a world away from Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas, the party town holiday resorts of the island’s south coast.

Deep ravines and huge daunting mountains make the national park a difficult place for the Spanish search teams to navigate.

At night, the countryside becomes a maze, pitch black and disorientating.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”

• Sunday June 16 – Jay Slater and friends attend final day of the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas

• Monday June 17 – Between 03:00 and 06:00 BST Mr Slater got into a car with two men he had met during the holiday and left Playa de las Americas

• 07:30 – Mr Slater posts a photograph on his Snapchat account showing him at the doorway of a property, tagged with the location Parque Rural de Teno

• Between 08:30 and 09:00 – Mr Slater calls his friend and says he missed a bus back south and was attempting to walk the 10-hour journey

• The call cuts out, with his phone’s last location showing a path in the mountainous Rural de Teno national park, popular with hikers

• Tuesday June 18 – Despite his friends searching the area, no sign of Mr Slater emerges and he does not return to his accommodation

• Local police and mountain rescue teams begin searching and his mother and brother board a flight to Tenerife

• Wednesday June 19 – The Spanish Guardia Civil continues the search using drones, dogs and a helicopter but no trace is found

• The search is briefly moved to the Los Cristianos area in the south of the island due to a potential sighting, but police quickly “discount” that lead and move the search back to the original area.

• Thursday June 20 – The Guardia Civil, mountain rescue, firefighters and volunteers return to rescue the national park

• Friday June 21 – Lancashire Police confirms it has offered to help the search but says Spanish are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”.

Additional reporting by Adam Durbin and Shaun Dacosta