Spanish search teams gather for sixth day of hunt for British teen Jay Slater
Spanish search and rescue teams have gathered again in Tenerife for the sixth day of the hunt for British teenager Jay Slater.
Officers were joined by rescue dogs and firefighters as they reconvened at Rural de Teno Park on the south of the island on Saturday, after another day without a major breakthrough.
The sixth day of searches began after the administrator of an official Facebook page set up to help find Mr Slater said somebody had logged into his Instagram account who was not him.
Rachel Louise Harg said a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than £26,000 will go towards family and friends staying in Tenerife while the hunt continues.
Ms Harg said people who had been “hacking” the social media accounts of Mr Slater’s family were “sick in the head”.
Lancashire Constabulary said it had made “an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources” which was rejected by Spanish authorities.
Mr Slater is from the Lancashire town of Oswaldtwistle, where specialist officers are continuing to support his family, the force said.
The 19-year-old disappeared following an attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.
He had attended the NRG music festival on the island with two friends before his disappearance.
In a statement, the force said: “Whilst this case falls outside the jurisdiction of UK policing, we have made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources.
“They have confirmed that at this time they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but that offer remains open and they will contact us should that position change.”
Police, firefighters and search and rescue personnel combed a vast area of land in and around the village of Masca on Friday.
Emergency workers met in various locations throughout the day, combing bushes, overgrown terrain, hillsides and rivers, but failed to find the missing teenager.
Search and rescue personnel carefully looked through dead palm trees covering a river at the bottom of the hillside near to an Airbnb property he had reportedly been driven to.
The owner of the property, who gave her name as Ophelia, told reporters she saw Mr Slater walk up the road past her property but did not see him again after that – describing the situation as worrying.
A post was issued on Facebook on Friday which said Mr Slater’s family and friends were “drained beyond words”.
Helicopters, rescue dogs and drones have been used in an effort to find the teenager, who was last heard from when he called his friend Lucy Law on Monday morning.
Officers have since been seen peering over the hillside and staring intently at the landscape through binoculars near to his last known location close to the village of Masca.
The walk from Mr Slater’s last known location to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.
On the fifth day of the hunt for Mr Slater, search teams paid close attention to a river called Barranco Madre del Agua at the bottom of a ravine, where personnel with sticks carefully searched through fallen dead trees.
They later moved to other areas, focusing a lot of their resources in an area near Rural de Teno park.
In a post on the Facebook page called Jay Slater Missing, the administrator of the group Rachel Louise Harg said family and friends of Mr Slater were in a “living nightmare”.
Footage released by the Guardia Civil on Thursday showed the views from a helicopter as it scoured the hillside.
The video, posted to the force’s X, formerly Twitter, account, showed officers searching in bushes and overgrown terrain with dogs.
Ms Law, who attended the NRG music festival with Mr Slater, said he called her at about 8.30am on Monday and told her he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%”.
Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew to Tenerife on Tuesday, previously said searching for her son was “an absolute living nightmare”.
Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and with a black bag.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie