The remote region where missing teen Jay Slater was last heard from is notoriously rugged and treacherous, locals have said.
The tiny hamlet of Masca clings to the rocky outcrops of North Western Tenerife in the far-flung Parque Rural de Teno, with locals calling it the “lost village” as it didn’t even have a road connection until the 1990s.
It is one of the most remote parts of Tenerife, and in the past few years more rescues have been carried out here than anywhere else in the Canary Islands, according to the website of the Masca visitors centre.
The treacherous terrain is made up of steep, rocky mountain trails and sheer gorges with numerous paths that can lead unwary walkers astray, one local has said.
Follow along with the latest updates in our Jay Slater live blog here
Woman falls to death from 60ft-high flat window putting up Christmas decorations
Jay Slater phoned his friend to say he was attempting to walk back from near the village of Masca (Supplied)
Police and search teams scouring the land for signs of the missing teenager (TNS/SOLARPIX.COM)A worker at the visitor centre in Masca, which issues passes to hikers undertaking the gruelling walk down the region’s famous canyon, said it was easy to get lost walking on the remote mountain trails that surround the area. “There's a lot of people that usually get lost here, there’s a lot of forest. We’ve already had a lot of news of tourists getting on trails they shouldn’t have and getting lost. I’ve seen a lot of helicopters flying around the rural park for years,” she told the Mirror.
“There’s a lot of trails in the park, there’s a lot of forest, but it's quite difficult for communication because there is not phone signal everywhere here. And then there are loads of trails that you can find on different websites on the internet which are not official trails, they have been closed specifically because there have been accidents there with people getting lost. The land is quite difficult, there are rockfalls because of the changing weather. There have been a lot of rescues in this part of the natural park.”
She said it could be a dangerous place to walk if you were to stray off the official trails. “We have a lot of people come and ask us about trails that have been written on some guide but they have already been closed for these reasons. If you get off the trails that are official it can be risky as you may not know where you are walking. Usually only locals go there because they know the ways - but if you’re not from here it can be dangerous."
The walk from the park to his accommodation would have taken more than a day, a local saidShe said the terrain could be dangerous to newcomers with the potential to get lost and fall with the risk of unmaintained rocky paths and sheer drops. “The thing is that you may get lost because if the path’s aren’t official they may not clean the way, so maybe you start walking and when you want to return you’ve lost yourself and you don’t know the way back. And because there’s nothing here to buy, there’s no supermarkets, there’s just bars and restaurants here in Masca until you get to Las Portelas which is the nearest town”.
Jay was last heard from on Monday morning when he told a friend he planned to walk back from near Masca to his accommodation at Playa de las Americas after missing a bus. “That would take him more than a day,” confirmed the worker, who did not wish to give her name. “If he was walking from Masca I guess he was walking on the road,” she added. “There’s no trails that take you from Santiago de Teide [the first town on the way to Playa de las Americas from Masca] so you would have to walk on the road.”
Jay Slater had travelled to the island earlier this month with his friends to attend the NRG Tenerife Weekender music festival (Facebook)
Authorities are currently combing the area looking for any sign of the missing teen (Facebook)The road is notoriously steep and narrow with tourists advised to take a bus rather than drive due to the hair-raising hairpin bends. “It’s quite steep, quite narrow. But there is a lot of traffic, so there’s a lot of cars and buses that would have seen him,” she said. Jay’s last call was made to his friend Lucy Mae at around 8.50am, when he rang her saying he was trying to walk back to Playa de las Americas but he was thirsty, lost and only had one per cent battery on his phone.
“That road is usually the way that people who work in the south take because it's a shorter way to get to the north, so usually there’s always people going by on this road," the worker said. Usually she said tourists are told they need good gear and a supply of water if they are walking in the hills. “You need some good sport shoes and to have enough water because it will take you a while until you get to a town. And always have enough battery on your phone because there is nowhere you can charge your phone.”
The remote village is notoriously treacherous (Getty Images)Andy Tomkins of Tenerife Guided Walks described the Masca area’s remote mountain terrain as: “Scotland in miniature”. “But there’s no water,” he said. “No running water, lakes, reservoirs,” he explained, adding: “at the moment we’re experiencing quite high temperatures.”
Andy said he would normally recommend people wishing to walk in the area bring navigation gear, water and food with them. “It's very rugged, rugged mountains,” Andy explained. “The road where he was walking, outside Masca village, is 650m above sea level and as the crow flies, down to the sea is a distance of something like 4km. It's very very steep,” he said. “If you’re not on cleared paths the vegetation is cactus, wild bushes and wild roses. It’s steep, there’s no running water.”
He described the incident as a “catastrophe” but added that the authorities were doing everything they could to find Jay. “They’re doing everything they possibly can. They’ve got drones, they’ve got dogs, they’ve got helicopters. They’ve got people who know that area better than me, they’ve got mountain rescue, the guardia civil - these are serious, serious people who deal with these situations all the time and they will be doing their utmost. And they will be now, I would think, considerably concerned. It’s been three days, 72 hours, without water.”
'Fiance spent Christmas with his ex-wife and kids again'
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
