Police hunting for Jay Slater call in volunteers to help with 'massive search' for missing teen on Saturday

28 June 2024, 12:13

Police looking for Jay Slater on Tenerife have urged volunteers to come forward for a "massive search" for the missing teenager on Saturday.

Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, has been missing on the Spanish island for over ten days.

He was last heard from by his friend Lucy Law after leaving a rave that night. He headed to a farmhouse in the village of Masca with two men he had met that night and has not been seen since.

Several people, including a number of so-called TikTok detectives, have already flown out to Tenerife to look for him.

Police said the large search would take place around Masca from the morning of Saturday.

Read more: Jay Slater fundraiser reaches £40k as mother takes out money to fly friends to Tenerife to join desperate search

Read more: Jay Slater 'unlikely to have survived' in 'immense' mountain wilderness of Tenerife, police fear

Officers said in a statement: "The Guardia Civil prepares and coordinates a large search to find the young British man missing in the village of Masca.

"The collaboration of all those Volunteer Associations is requested: Civil Protection, Firefighters, etc., and even private volunteers who are experts in the abrupt search terrain.

"The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am."

"Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those Associations of Volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested".

Jay went to the farmhouse, according to the owner, before walking off into the surrounding Teno mountains.

And dozens of visitors have gone there since, getting jeep rides to the site.

One woman from Birmingham has visited the farmhouse twice and said it gives her "chills".

She told the Times: "I asked to drive this route because I just wanted to see it one more time. I want to get some answers."

Jay told his friend he was lost in the middle of nowhere with no water and had just one per cent battery on his phone.

When she told him to return to where he had walked from, he said he did not know where that was.

He sounded disorientated and explained that he was "in the middle of mountains" with "nothing around".

Some locals claim to have seen him since, including a supposed sighting of him watching the Euros, but this has not been confirmed.

Meanwhile Jay's mother Debbie Duncan has asked TikTok investigator Paul Arnott for help with the search for her missing son.

Mr Arnott is working on Tenerife, alongside other social media sleuths such as Callum Rahim.

A fundraiser to help bring him home has met with a large response, reaching £40,000.

Ms Duncan, who has flown out to the Spanish island, said on Thursday that she was with withdrawing some of the cash.

She said the withdrawn money would go on support for the rescuers, food and accommodation - as well as flying out the "loved ones" of the "wonderful people" who had come out to Tenerife to be with her.

Ms Duncan said: "First, I would like to thank everyone for your support, kind messages, and good wishes.

"It’s difficult to wrap our heads around what is happening right now, but we are not losing hope that we will find Jay and return home together."

She added: "We are currently working with GoFundMe to withdraw part of the funds, which are being safely held. I wanted to share that these funds will be used to support the mountain rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay.

"Additionally, since our stay in Tenerife needs to be extended, we will also use the funds to cover accommodation and food expenses.

"I'm surrounded by wonderful people who are by my side, but far from their loved ones, so we'll also be using part of these funds to fly them to Tenerife so we can support each other during these dark times.

"Thank you again for all your donations and support, this means the world to us."

Spanish authorities continue to search for Jay nearly two weeks after he was last seen.

But police are said to fear that they may never find Jay in the "immense" mountains of the area north of the Masca gorge, ten days on from when he vanished.

A source told the Sun: "No-one at the moment is talking about the search being brought to an end, even though it’s very unlikely Jay has survived if he got lost in the mountains in the way we were told he did.

"There will be a point when the operation that’s taking place at the moment has to at least be scaled back but right now the search teams appear to have decided they want to give themselves more time."