Dog teams continue their searches in Tenerife

Specialist dog teams have continued the search for a British teenager who went missing after a night out in Tenerife.

Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, traveled to the Spanish island for a music festival on his first holiday without his parents.

But the 19-year-old has not been heard from since he called a friend shortly before 9am BST on Monday, saying he was lost and needed water.

On the sixth day of the search, police, rescue dog teams and firefighters gathered again in the mountainous terrain of Teno Rural National Park, Mr Slater's last known location.

Lancashire Police said on Friday it had offered to support officers on the island in their efforts to locate Mr Slater, but added that their counterparts were “satisfied they have the resources they need”.

Friends and family of the apprentice mason said he had left the group he was traveling with in the tourist area of ​​Playa de las Americas in the south of the island.

After leaving the NRG music festival at the Papagayo nightclub, he got in a car with two men he had met to drive to the national park northwest of Tenerife.

The administrator of a Facebook page set up to help find Mr Slater said someone who was not the 19-year-old had logged into his Instagram account.

Rachel Louise Harg said a fundraising page had raised more than £26,000, which would help family and friends stay in Tenerife while the hunt continued.

The people who had “hacked” Mr Slater's family's social media accounts were “a headache”, she said.

Specialist officers continue to support Mr Slater's family, Lancashire Police said.

The Revd Matt Smith, of West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle, said a service on Sunday would be “a chance for the community to come together”.

“It will be a normal service and we will offer our prayers for Jay and give people the opportunity to leave messages for him and light candles,” he said.

“We continue to pray for Jay and hold his family in our prayers.”

Deryn Regan, owner of West End Fish and Chips in Oswaldtwistle, said the community was “shocked” by the disappearance of Mr Slater, who was a customer.

“Everyone knows everyone, so for something like this to happen in our area, it saddens us all,” she said.

“I have two young sons myself, so if one of them went missing I would be absolutely devastated, so I really feel for the mother.”

Pauline Stables, 63, who is a barmaid at Hare and Hounds, said she remembered Mr Slater from when he was a young boy.

“I know his mother, Debbie, quite well and it’s her I feel sorry for,” she said.

“I just can’t imagine the pain she and the rest of her family are going through, it’s just horrible – come home.”

On Friday, search teams appeared to methodically travel down a mountain road and focus on a ravine, before heading toward a valley in the village of Masca.

Dog teams were roaming an area near farm buildings for much of the day, while police and mountain rescue examined steep terrain behind the apartment where Mr Slater is believed to have gone.

The operation carefully raked dead palm trees covering a river at the foot of the hill near the property.

Investigators took bags of trash into the area to try to find clues.

The owner of the apartment told reporters she saw Mr Slater walking on the road outside her property but did not see him again afterward, describing the situation as “worrying”.

In a statement, Lancashire Police said they had “offered support to the Guardia Civil to see if they require additional resources”.

British police said Spanish police had confirmed “at the moment they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but this offer remains open and they will contact us if this position changes.”

He added: “Our thoughts are with Jay’s family and friends at this difficult time.”

Mr Slater was on his first holiday without family and had gone to the festival with two friends.

Lucy Law, who was reportedly the last person to speak to him, said he told her during their call that he had missed a bus and decided to walk 10 hours home, but he was lost, he needed water and his phone was at 1% battery.

The Rural de Teno is about a 40-minute drive from where Mr. Slater and his friends were staying.

A remote and wild national park, it's a world away from Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas, the seaside resorts on the island's south coast.

Deep ravines and huge, intimidating mountains make the national park a difficult place for Spanish search teams to navigate.

At night, the countryside becomes a maze, dark and disorienting.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”

• Sunday June 16 – Jay Slater and friends attend the final day of the NRG music festival at Papagayo nightclub in tourist hotspot Playa de las Americas.

• Monday June 17 – Between 03:00 and 06:00 BST, Mr Slater got into a car with two men he had met on holiday and left Playa de las Americas.

• 07:30 – Mr Slater posts a photo on his Snapchat account showing him at the gate of a property, tagged with the location Parque Rural de Teno.

• Between 8.30am and 9.00am – Mr Slater calls his friend and tells him he missed a bus back south and was trying to walk the 10 hour journey.

• The call is cut off and his phone's last location shows a path in the mountainous Rural Teno National Park, popular with hikers.

• Tuesday June 18 – Despite his friends searching the area, no sign of Mr. Slater appears and he does not return to his accommodation

• Local police and mountain rescue teams begin a search and his mother and brother board a flight to Tenerife.

• Wednesday June 19 – The Spanish Guardia Civil continues the search using drones, dogs and a helicopter but no trace is found

• The search was briefly moved to the Los Cristianos area in the south of the island due to a potential sighting, but police quickly “discounted” this and moved the search to the original area.

• Thursday June 20 – The Guardia Civil, mountain rescue, firefighters and volunteers return to explore the national park

• Friday June 21 – Lancashire Police confirm they have offered to help with the search, but say the Spanish are “pleased to have the resources they need”.

Additional reporting by Adam Durbin and Shaun Dacosta