Tenerife Airbnb owner says missing Jay Slater was walking 'alone and fast'

21 June 2024 , 15:26

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Tenerife Airbnb owner says missing Jay Slater was walking 'alone and fast'

The owner of the remote Airbnb where Jay Slater stayed the night before he vanished in Tenerife has spoken out about the morning he "walked off alone".

The major search to find Jay Slater, 19, continues for its fifth day in a vast mountainous area around half a mile north of Masca on the Canary Island. He went missing on Monday morning after last speaking to his friend Lucy on the phone, but then his mobile went dead.

Ophelia, the owner of the holiday rental Casa Abuela Tina, where Jay is understood to have stayed with two people he met on the island after partying at the NRG festival, has stold of her "worry" for the missing teenager. She claimed she saw Jay walking uphill alone on Monday morning.

Speaking outside the holiday cottage, she said: "It’s dangerous walking around here, it’s easy to lose yourself. He walked up the road when I saw him for the last time. He was alone. He was walking normally, though he was fast."

The teenager travelled to Tenerife to a attend a three-day music rave (Facebook)

Ophelia said Jay had also asked about catching the bus from the area that morning before leaving on foot along the road - the only route through the area. She said she was "very worried" but, in the height of the media storm, added: "We are not to blame".

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The rental property is listed online as a holiday home. It is understood to have been rented by two men Jay was with the night before he vanished, reports Manchester Evening News. Police have since been searching in the rural mountainous areas along the north west of the island, near to the Masca village. On Friday, the Civil Guard confirmed to the MEN that there had been "no developments" in the search for the apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.

Ophelia, who owns the Airbnb where Jay had stayed, has shared her worry (MEN)

Officers were seen looking over the mountains with binoculars with mountain rescue teams wading through the overgrown hills. The force confirmed a search was being carried out across the wider Masca area.

It is thought that the north west of the Island, around the Parque Rural de Teno, was the main focus. Jay's family, including his mum Debbie, have flown out to the Spanish island to assist officers.

Emergency workers search for the apprentice bricklayer near the village of Masca (PA)

Debbie said she was in a 'living nightmare' and said she wished she'd told her son not to go to Tenerife before he went missing. Speaking to ITV News, she said: "I wouldn't wish this on anybody. I want my baby back. It's a nightmare, an absolute living nightmare."

Jay was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and a black bag. A fundraiser set up by Ms Law to "get Jay Slater home" has since received more than £24,000 in donations. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman 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."

James Holt