The mother and close friend of missing British teenager Jay Slater have shared their fearful concerns about his 'weird' disappearance in Tenerife.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was enjoying a festival with friends on Sunday when he decided to stay out with another pal he had met on holiday. As his other mates returned to their accommodation, in the early hours of Monday morning, Jay found himself lost in a rural location after missing the bus back.
Before his phone died just before 9am, he was last in touch with his friends to say he was attempting the 11-hour walk back to the hotel and that he needed water. But two days later, he is still nowhere to be seen.
Earlier today, police dramatically halted their search in the mountains in the north-west of Tenerife - and switched to the other side of the island. They looked to investigate the tourist resorts of Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas, near to where the teenager was staying.
However in the latest turn of events, police have said they were given a false lead, and have now returned to the mountains around Rural de Teno Park where Jay was last located, MailOnline reports. Since Monday, sniffer dogs and mountain rescue experts have been searching for Jay in the area. His mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew into the Canary Island on Tuesday morning, has also now revealed her worst fear for what may have befallen her son.
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A Snapchat clip has revealed what Lancashire teenager Jay Slater was wearing the night before he went missing while on holiday in Tenerife (No credit)She told reporters: "I think he's been taken against his will with what’s been said, but it’s in the hands of the police." A spokesman for the Civil Guard said at 12.30pm local time: "The search operation has moved to the south of the island. The search areas are Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas."
Jay's friend Lucy Mae, whom he last spoke with on the phone before his battery died, has become increasingly concerned over his whereabouts. Speaking from near Rural de Teno park in northwest Tenerife, the young woman said her friend vanishing was 'suspicious'.
"Jay's not stupid, it was just before 9 o’clock in the morning when he rang me so broad daylight and the area he was in is full of hikers," she said. "I've been up there every day every since I got that phone call from Jay on Monday morning that made me panic and so many walkers and other people are up there.
"It’s secluded but the spot where he last made phone contact with me is near a main road and he would have had the wherewithal to flag someone down, to wave someone down and ask for help. There’s something weird going on. It is suspicious. In two days you’re telling me someone’s not seen him. There’s a restaurant 10 minutes away that he would have seen or walked past.
Friend Lucy Mae says his disappearance is "suspicious" (Facebook)
Police and search teams use a drone to find missing Jay Slater (TNS/SOLARPIX.COM)"Fair enough it didn’t open for another two hours but if that were me I would have sat and waited at the restaurant till it opened and as soon as it opened I would have said, ‘Please can you put my phone on charge’ and then I would have rung someone, I would have rung a taxi. It’s suspicious and it’s weird."
Jay's last known location registered near a hiking trail, several hundred feet above the small village of Masca. Lucy says that Jay complained of being thirsty and that he was lost. She told the MEN on Tuesday: "He's gone on a night out, he's gone to a friend's house, someone that he has met on holiday. One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he's driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.
"He's ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there. But then in the morning he's set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around. He rang me at about 8 o'clock morning saying his phone was on 1 percent."
She added: "He said 'I don't know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die.'" Shortly after 9am, police on the island were alerted and have said they are doing everything they can to find the missing teenager.
Jay Slater's last known locationThey are working with the British Embassy, while Jay's mum Debbie has flown out to help the search. She said Jay may have consumed "a fair bit of alcohol" in the period before he went missing, but that crucially, his friends had reported him being in a stable state of mind at the time.
She said yesterday: "I just think it was a question of him not knowing the island well enough because it was his first time here and being a bit disorientated when it came to distances and not realising it was a 10-hour walk from where he went missing to his holiday accommodation.
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"I know the last place he spoke to his friend Lucy from was in the mountains and I think the police have got a more precise location now. I imagine they're also speaking to the people whose place he went back to. Once I've spoken to the British consulate again I’ll be clearer about what I’m going to do but I imagine we will head up north nearer the spot Jay was when he disappeared.”
Step-dad Andy Watson, 63, told LancsLive that it was less than 24 hours later when officers back in Oswaldtwistle knocked on their door. "When the police said 'the best thing you can do is get yourself out there' we knew it was bad," he said. "This was his first holiday on his own. I'm just hoping he's gone to another party."
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