Jay Slater: Tenerife police to stage massive new search operation for missing British teenager
Tenerife police have announced a massive search operation for missing British teenager Jay Slater on Saturday - and are calling on volunteers to take part.
Authorities organised it to start at 9am in the area around the village of Masca where the 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last seen on June 17.
The search will involve surrounding roads, trails and ravines.
The Spanish Civil Guard is specifying it is seeking the cooperation only of volunteer professionals, including firefighters and Civil Protection workers as well as people expert in the type of rough terrain officers have been working in.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay had attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance.
The walk from his last known location, Rural de Teno Park in the north of the island, to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.
Revealing the dramatic new development on Friday, Tenerife police chief Angel Sanz Coronado said: “Following the disappearance on June 17 of the young 19-year-old British man in the area of Masca, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte, the Civil Guard is prepared to carry out a mass search.
“Given that it is a steep, rocky area, full of uneven terrain and with many ravines, tracks and trails, we request the collaboration of all those Volunteer Associations that can help in this planned search that is intended to be carried out in a directed and co-ordinated way.
“This massive search will begin on Saturday 29 June at 09:00 hours. A meeting point will be established at the Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda in Masca to start the search in a logical and orderly way along the many paths and ravines that are found in Masca.”
The force added in its statement: “Volunteers must contact the Civil Guard by telephone (0034) 696434031, before 8pm on Friday 28 June.”
A spokesman clarified that it was not asking the “unexperienced” general public to join the search, only experts in the type of terrain in the area as well as professional volunteers like firefighters and Civil Protection workers.
On Thursday, Jay’s mother said she will use donations to fund her stay on Tenerife as the hunt for her son continues into a second week.
Debbie Duncan said the £36,000 raised by more than 3,200 individuals on GoFundMe would also support mountain rescue teams, and cover her own accommodation and food costs during her extended stay.
Mrs Duncan flew out to join the search for her son on June 18, the day after he went missing.Donations flooded in to the fundraiser set up by Lucy Law, his friend and the last person to speak to Jay.
Ms Law said Jay told her in a frantic phone call before he went missing that he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%”.
Search teams, co-ordinated by the Spanish police, the Guardia Civil, have since mounted a huge manhunt using helicopters, drones and search dogs, but are yet to find the teenager.
Mrs Duncan has described Jay’s disappearance and the wait for news as a “living nightmare”.
