It’s been one week since Jay Slater went missing
The search for British teenager Jay Slater has entered its second week on Tenerife.
Here’s everything we know about his disappearance.
When did Slater go missing?
The 19-year-old vanished on the Spanish island on Monday June 17. He had travelled there with friends for the NRG music festival, in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas, on the south of the island.
After leaving the festival at Papagayo night club on Sunday, the apprentice bricklayer got in a car with two men he had met to drive to the northwestern mountain village of Masca in the Rural de Teno national park. This was a 40-minute drive away from his accommodation.
He was last heard from at around 08:00 BST on Monday when he phoned his friend Lucy Law, telling her he had missed a bus and had tried to walk the 10-hour journey but was lost.
He said he needed water and only had one per cent battery left on his phone.
His phone then cut off, and his last known location was shown as the national park.
Law told the MEN that Slater hadn’t realised how far away from his own accommodation the group’s property was when he was driven there.
She said: “He’s ended up out in the middle of nowhere.
“Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there. But then in the morning he’s set off walking, using his maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around.”
Where are rescue teams searching?
Rescue efforts have centred on the Rural de Teno Park, situated on the other side of Tenerife to where Slater and his friends were staying.
The park is mountainous, remote, and is made up of deep ravines and daunting mountains. Slater’s friends initially tried to search the area on Tuesday June 18, with local police and mountain rescue teams then joining the efforts.
Search dogs, drones and a helicopter have also been used, whilst Slater’s family have flown to the island to help the search.
The search was temporarily moved to the Los Cristianos area on the south of the island on Wednesday due to a potential lead, however efforts have returned to the north-west and Masca.
On Sunday, police examined outbuildings at the bottom of a ravine in Rural de Teno, close to where his phone last pinged. Searchers could be seen looking into blue barrels outside one of these buildings, Sky News reports.
Who was the last person to see Slater?
Slater was last seen at the property he had been driven to by the men. Law said she managed to find the property and spoke to two people there.
They told her that Slater had gone out for a cigarette before coming back in to say he wanted to go home.
“They told me he’d spoken to the next-door neighbours and they’d told him there was a bus every 10 minutes back down to Los Cristianos,” she said.
“The bus stop was right next to the house. So obviously if he’d gone to get the bus he wouldn’t have got lost because it [the stop] was visible from the front door.”
The owner of the house, who went by Ophelia, said she saw Slater walk up the road past her property but did not see him again after that – describing the situation as worrying.
She detailed how she came across a dazed-looking British teenager standing beside the bus stop next to her home in Tenerife.
The Brit managed to communicate to her that he wanted to know the time of the next bus to Los Cristianos, about 25 miles away.
She managed to signal to him that it was not due for two hours, at 10am. Rather than wait, he decided to walk.
“People don’t get lost here,” she said.
“There are paths everywhere. People round here don’t get lost. And he was going along the road. But after that I don’t know where he went. He was walking normally but a bit quickly.”
What have the authorities said?
The Spanish Civil Guard has said it is “doing everything possible” to find the teenager, and a “specialist mountain rescue and intervention group” has been mobilised in the search.
Lancashire Police also offered its service to local authorities “if they need any additional resources.” However, this offer has been rejected, with Spanish police “satisfied that they have the resources they need.”
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.”
Meanwhile, the NRG festival has released a statement about Slater’s disappearance, describing how they have been “affected” by Jay’s disappearance.
They wrote: “As you’ll be aware, among the attendees was 19-year-old Jay Slater who, after leaving the event, was reported missing in the north of the island on Monday.
“We are grateful for the many thousands who have engaged with and shared the appeals from our own and many other channels over the days since.
“Despite the widespread coverage and hard work of the local authorities and volunteers involved in the search, at the time of posting Jay has not yet been found.
“That such a devastating situation has arisen has deeply affected us all.”
They added that they have given “some practical support to the members of Jay’s family who have come to Tenerife in such difficult circumstances” and “continue to hope for Jay’s safe return.”
What have Slater’s friends and relatives said?
Slater’s mum, Debbie Duncan, said she has “not slept” since he went missing, and made a direct plea to her son to come home over the weekend.
She said she would stay in Tenerife “for as long as it takes” and is “not going home unless it’s with Jay.”
His dad, Warren Slater, has also travelled to the island with the missing Brit’s brother Zak.
The father described the last week as a “nightmare” and said he is “just hoping that somebody has helped him off this mountain”.
Meanwhile, Slater’s stepfather Andy Watson told The Sun his stepson is “very streetwise”, but that he may have lost his bearings while it was dark.
Slater’s workplace, PH Build Group, posted on Facebook in an attempt to debunk rumours and speculation about his whereabouts. However, they have since deleted the post after it was inundated with “negative comments,” the BBC reports.
The company wrote: “Jay has been with us since he left school and is liked by all. He’s a valued member of our team and we stand by him.
“The picture being painted of him is just not true. The fact is he’s a 19-year-old lad missing in a foreign country. He needs to be back home where he belongs. Come on Jay we are all praying for you.”
Over the weekend, a fundraising page set up by Law to raise money for the search efforts surpassed £30,000 in donations.
