Jay Slater: New search for missing teenager almost two weeks after 19-year-old’s disappearance
A new search for Jay Slater took place today in Tenerife, focusing on revisiting areas rescue teams have already explored.
The Civil Guard said they were stepping up their search for the 19-year-old Briton, who has been missing since 17 June, after appealing for volunteers experienced in tough terrain to help.
Search efforts began at 9am on Saturday in the village of Masca, near Mr Slater‘s last-known location, and Spanish police hope a larger team will search previous parts more thoroughly.
Sky correspondent Becky Johnson, who is in Tenerife, said she saw between 30 and 40 officers and volunteers gather for the search, which covers a “huge area” of rugged hills and steep drops.
Mr Slater was at the New Rave Generation music festival and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north – about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.
There has been mystery around two British men who went north towards Masca from the festival with Mr Slater, but police told Sky News in an update they are “not relevant”.
A sense the search must go on, however long it takes
Becky Johnson
@BeckyJohnsonSky
As we drove up into the mountainous region of Tenerife where Jay Slater was last seen, an eerie mist swirled around in the valleys.
It’s an area that is as dangerous as it is beautiful, with steep cliff faces, deep ravines and arid, slippery pathways.
A viewpoint close to where the British teenager’s phone signal was last located almost two weeks ago was the meeting point. The Civil Guard put a call out for volunteers experienced in walking among this terrain to join specialist teams for a “massive search”.
But just a handful of locals turned up to help police, volunteer firefighters and other volunteer rescue teams.
Among those who came was Livia, 40, who has been following the news of Jay’s disappearance online and lives a short distance away. She said she felt compelled to help as she too has a 19-year-old son.
The cloud lifted and the sun suddenly felt hot as around 40 people fanned out across a vast area. The search zone has been widened as police say they can’t be sure how far Jay walked after his phone switched off.
Progress through the undergrowth was slow. Communication between the teams was hampered by the rocks. Workers could only go as far down each ravine as safety allowed.
By early evening it was over. Another day and no news.
Perhaps beginning to feel the pressure of the lack of progress made, an officer from the Guardia Civil began the day by answering some questions from journalists for the first time since Jay went missing.
He didn’t reveal when police had spoken to two British men who had brought Jay here but confirmed they had no relevance to the case.
The grim reality of the situation seems to be affecting some of the specialists who’ve been involved in the search. One fireman, when asked if he was still hopeful that Jay will be found alive, simply replied: “It’s difficult”.
As journalists continue to swarm in amongst tourists visiting the rugged beauty spot, there is a sense that the search must go on, however long it takes.
Juan Garcia, an experienced hiker, was among the volunteers and was going to walk through tough terrain with his sniffer dog.
“I think for myself, if something happened to one of my sons… I would like people to help me to solve this case,” he told Sky News as he prepared to set off.
“Sometimes, even with only the police it’s hard because this is a very difficult area and you need a lot of experience walking.
“[There are] a lot of bushes and it’s very hard to walk and even in a few kilometres it takes a lot of time and it’s not so easy.”
Seen by cafe owner
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared while trying to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus on Monday last week.
He was last pictured at Papayago, the nightclub hosting the end of the NRG festival, late on 16 June.
After the event ended, he got in a car with two men, travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca, where a local cafe owner told Sky News he tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she saw him at 8am on 17 June, and added: “He asked twice what time the bus came.
“He came back and he asked me again, and I told him again, at 10 o’clock. Later I got in my car, and I saw him, he was walking quickly, but I didn’t see him again after that.”
She said he was walking in the wrong direction.
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Last phone call
It comes after one of Mr Slater’s friends told ITV’s This Morning about his last video call with the 19-year-old.
Brad Hargreaves said he saw the missing teenager’s feet slide on rocks during a call at around 8.30am, saying that is how he knew Mr Slater was not on a road.
He then said Mr Slater went down a “little drop” in one of his last video calls, and added: “He said, ‘look where I am’.
“He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, ‘put your location on’. He said: ’15-minute drive, 14-hour walk’.
“I don’t know if it’s accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi’.”
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Search teams coordinated by the Civil Guard have since mounted a huge manhunt using helicopters, drones and search dogs to scour mountainous areas of the island, but are yet to find the teenager.