Family of Jay Slater vow to continue looking as Spanish police call off search
A family friend said ‘nothing has changed’ as they remain in Tenerife
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Your support makes all the difference.The family of Jay Slater have vowed to continue searching for the missing teenager, despite Spanish police calling off their operation after 13 days.
The 19-year-old from Lancashire disappeared near the remote village of Masca in Tenerife, after setting off on what should have been an 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
Despite the efforts of mountain rescue teams, the Guardia Civil and volunteers, no trace of the apprentice bricklayer has been found in the mountain region.
After Jay was reported missing on 17 June, his family and a number of close friends flew out to the island to assist in the search, and they have vowed to remain there until he is found.
Rachel Hargreaves, a close family friend who has joined Jay’s parents on the largest of the Canary Islands, told Mail Online: “No one is leaving until we find Jay.”
She added: “We stay and we do what we need to do. Nothing has changed. We will continue to search for him.”
A Guardia Civil spokesperson said on Sunday: “The search operation has now finished, although the case remains open.”
Helicopters, drones and search dogs were all deployed in the effort to find Jay, and officers were seen combing through the rugged terrain in the hope of finding the teenager.
On Friday, the force had appealed for volunteers, such as firefighters and individual volunteers who have expertise, to assist in a busqueda masiva – a massive search – on Saturday.
However, Jay’s father, Warren Slater, revealed that he was “disappointed” that just six volunteers turned out to join in the search for his son.
The search in the village of Masca, near to Jay’s last-known location, took in a steep rocky area, including ravines, trails and paths.
Jay attended the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas with two friends before his disappearance, and his last known location was the Rural de Teno park in the north of the island.
He had travelled to an Airbnb in Masca during the early hours of the morning with two older men, who had rented the property. A police spokesperson later said they had been ruled “not relevant” to the case.
On Friday, Jay’s friend Brad Hargreaves told ITV’s This Morning that he had been on a video call with Jay before his disappearance and had seen and heard the teenager leave the road.
He said: “He was on the phone walking down a road, and he’d gone over a little bit – not a big drop, but a tiny little drop – and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring ya back, I’ll ring ya back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.”
He confirmed he could see his friend’s feet “sliding” down the hill and could hear he was walking on gravel. But Mr Hargreaves said he and his friend were both laughing at that point.
He added: “He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was.”
The last person to speak to Jay was his friend Lucy Law, who described a frantic phone call with him at 8.50am. She said he had 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 per cent”.
Ms Law set up a GoFundMe appeal titled “Get Jay Slater Home”, which had raised more than £43,000 as the police search came to an end.
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, travelled to the island as the search took place. She said the money raised online would be used to support mountain rescue teams and to cover her own accommodation and food costs.
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