The family and friends of a British teenager who went missing after getting lost in a Tenerife national park yesterday said they ‘have never been so worried’.
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to the Canary Islands for this past weekend’s ‘New Rave Generation’ (NRG) music festival with pal Lucy and another friend last week.
But the 19-year-old was reported missing yesterday after he decided to stay with people he had met while out on Sunday evening.
Jay was last heard from early Monday morning when he called Lucy to say he was trying to walk back from the apartment, having been unable to catch a bus.
Lucy recounted how a confused Jay told her that his phone battery was on 1 per cent, that he needed a drink of water and ‘didn’t know where he was’.
His phone then died around 8:50am, with his last known location registered in the ‘Rural de Teno’ park – a mountainous area that is popular with hikers but very exposed and far away from heavily populated centres.
Lucy is now leading a frantic search effort, with Jay’s mother Debbie and brother Zak flying out to join her.
Police meanwhile said they were doing ‘everything they could’ to help find Jay.
Lucy and Jay’s family are now scared for his life and have launched a desperate rescue effort.
The last known location registered by his phone appeared to place the teenager close to the PR-TF51 hiking trail, several hundred feet above the small village of Masca in southern Tenerife.
But there have been no reported sightings of the teen from hikers.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News about Jay’s disappearance, a scared Lucy said: ‘He’s gone on a night out, he’s gone to a friend’s house, someone that he has met on holiday.
‘One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he’s driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.
‘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.
‘He rang me at about 8 o’clock in the morning saying his phone was on 1 per cent, he said ”I don’t know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die”.’
Temperatures in South Tenerife peaked at 26 degrees C yesterday.
Lucy said she is frantically searching for her friend on the island, having made several reports to local police in Tenerife and made contact with the British Embassy.
A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife today said the force was working hard to find Jay.
‘A specialist Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group called the Greim have been mobilised,’ she said.
‘A police helicopter is also out and focusing on the area around the village of Masca.
‘Other emergency services including firefighters have also been mobilised. Everything possible is being done to try to find the missing man.’
Police reportedly dispatched a mountain rescue team to the area yesterday, but they are yet to have found any trace of the missing teen.
Lucy added that she has spoken to the people with whom Jay was staying on Sunday night.
She said the claimed the teen had left their apartment at around 8am Monday morning to ‘catch a bus’, but gave no further information.
‘I’ve never been so worried in my life. I was there all yesterday, a lovely lady messaged me on Facebook and said she had hired a car and would drive me up there’, Lucy added.
‘We were there all of yesterday, we were driving around looking around everywhere, looking in all the nooks and crannies.’
Jay was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with shorts and trainers. He was also believed to be carrying a black bag.
A FCDO spokesperson told : ‘We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.’