A teenager from Lancashire has been missing on the Spanish island of Tenerife since Monday morning. Jay Slater’s mother, a team of mountain rescuers, and the local civil guard are hunting for the 19-year-old after he went missing while on vacation with pals. The last person to speak with him says he told her he was lost and almost out of phone battery around 8.15 a.m. local time on Monday. Here’s everything we know so far.
‘Ended up amid nothing.’
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn, was last seen by pals on a night out in Tenerife on Sunday evening after attending the NRG Music Festival. The last person to talk with him was his buddy Lucy, who claims he called her on Monday morning to report he was lost, needed water, and only had a 1% battery charge on his phone. She told the Manchester Evening News that someone Mr. Slater met on his night out had driven him back to their flat in a rental car without telling him how far away it was.”He landed up in the middle of nowhere.
Jay believed he would be able to come home from there,” she told the publication. Lucy claims that during the brief phone contact, he stated that he had missed a bus trying to return to his holiday lodgings and was attempting to walk instead, a trek that would take 11 hours. His phone turned off, and his last live location appeared as Rural de Teno park, a mountainous area popular with hikers. Mr Slater’s stepfather, Andy Watson, told The Sun that his stepson is “no mug” and “very streetwise,” but he may have lost his bearings in the dark.
What do the authorities say?
Local police said they’ve hired a skilled mountain rescue team, including a police aircraft, to seek for Mr Slater. According to a Civil Guard official, the Guard is “focusing on the area around the village of Masca.” According to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), “We support the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and is in contact with the local authorities.” Mr Slater’s family has formed a Facebook group to help find him by reviewing aerial pictures, CCTV, and social media material. According to the missing person sign, Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, shorts, and trainers and carrying a black bag.