New search launched for teenager in Tenerife

Lina Portman3 days ago

0 3 minutes read

The family of missing teenager Jay Slater are set to launch a massive search and rescue operation in Tenerife in a last desperate attempt to find him.

Slater, 19, was last heard from on June 17 after undertaking a perilous 11-hour walk back to his holiday accommodation.

But despite the official land search by Spanish police being called off on June 30, Slater's mother, Debbie Duncan, and her family have vowed to stay on the island until they find him.

The family now plan to use a significant portion of the £50,000 raised through a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to hire specialist search teams and have received permission from the Guardia Civil to proceed.

The decision means that external search teams are allowed to launch a detailed search “without any problems”, but must notify officers for “appropriate coordination”.

The family is believed to be planning a major land search of a very large wilderness area in the Masca region in the west of the island where Slater was last seen.

Their private investigation team, which is expected to cost tens of thousands of pounds to deploy in full, is to liaise with the police to ensure “good management of information and resources”.

The move came after the teenager's furious father Warren blasted officers for failing his son.

He said: “I'm past the point of sadness and I'm angry, if that makes sense. I'm angry because nothing happened.”

Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after attending a music festival in the popular resort of Playas de las Americas.

He was last heard from around 8.15am on the day he disappeared. He called his girlfriend Lucy Law and told her he was planning to walk back to his holiday apartment after missing a bus. His phone had 1% battery, he was thirsty and disorientated. He claimed he had been injured on a cactus.

Nearly two weeks of intensive searches involving emergency services, mountain rescue teams, drones and helicopters culminated in a massive search on June 29.

Despite these efforts, the Guardia Civil ended the official search a day later, although the case technically remains open.

New search for missing Jay Slater to be funded by family's GoFundMe campaign

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Jay's mother, Debbie, has spoken out about the “deep distress” the family is going through.

She said: “I feel like I'm living in a nightmare from which I can't wake up.

“Jay is a normal guy who is in his third year of apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a wide circle of friends.”

She added: “We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated by his loss.

“Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are going through. He is our beautiful boy, he has his whole life ahead of him and we just want him back.”

The wild Masca region of Tenerife where Jay Slater disappeared

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To bolster their search efforts, Jay's family has turned to the public for help.

They managed to raise this colossal sum through a GoFundMe campaign, which will now be dedicated to hiring specialized search and rescue teams, equipment and other resources needed to continue the search completely independently.

His family had been waiting for official permission to call in external search teams, which has now been fully granted.
The local community of Tenerife has joined the search over the past two weeks with volunteers distributing leaflets and providing assistance to support Jay's family.

News of the new search comes just two days after a former detective claimed Slater had “confessed to his friends” that he had stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch and was trying to sell it hours before he disappeared.

Mark Williams-Thomas, who is investigating his disappearance in a remote part of the island, said the teenager's friends said he sent them a message shortly before he disappeared in which he admitted stealing the watch.

Police confirmed they were investigating reports of a fight at the Papagayo Beach Club, where Slater was staying the night before he disappeared, amid reports of a stolen watch.

Jay Slater is missed and his mother, Debbie Duncan, is devastated

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Earlier this week, Spanish authorities denied that Slater's disappearance was being treated as a crime.

The Guardia Civil said the case remained technically open and that a “parallel” investigation was underway. But a local judge was told that officers had seen “nothing” to suggest a criminal offence had been committed.

A judicial source said: “There is no evidence of criminality at this stage in this case. That doesn't mean things won't change because the case remains open, but for now that is the situation.”