COPS hunting for Jay Slater in Tenerife have expanded their search to an "immense" barren landscape north of where he was last seen.
It comes after the 19-year-old's dad Warren pleaded for the safe return of his son and urged rescue teams to widen the operation.
The mammoth operation involving drones, sniffer dogs and helicopters has now been broadened a week after Jay vanished.
Crews had been focussing on the Masca gorge close to where Jay, from Lancashire, had made a final frantic call to friend Lucy Law last Monday morning.
He told his pal he was lost in the middle of nowhere with no water and had just one per cent battery on his phone.
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Today Civil Guard officers confirmed forest trails and tracks north of the gorge in Teno Rural Park were also now being looked at as the ongoing search expanded to other areas.
A spokesman for the force said: “Officers are going over old ground in the gorge but teams are also looking at other areas such as forest trails and tracks in other parts of Buenavista del Norte.
"We’re talking about an immense area.
"We’re not going to go in every little new detail of the search or give a running commentary but everything possible is being done to find this missing man and we continue to keep an open mind with regards to what could have happened to him.
"It remains a land and air search and hasn't yet been extended to the sea."
Buenavista del Norte is the name of the municipality the tiny village of Masca forms part of.
It is also the name of the town on the north west coast of Tenerife a 35-minute drive from Masca.
Jay stopped a local there to ask her about bus times shortly before she spotted him again walking out of the village around 15 minutes later as she drove past him on the twisting road running north.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez spoke about the sighting late last week, saying: "He was alone and he was walking quite fast. I drove past him and that's the last time I saw him."
Apprentice bricklayer Jay was heading in the opposite direction to the way he should have been going if his intended destination was in the south of the island where his hotel was.
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It comes as...
- Jay's mum slams trolls questioning what £33k GoFundMe will be used for
- Teen's family share CCTV image they believe could be Jay
- Footage obtained by The Sun shows Jay appearing to stagger back to his feet at a club
- Owner of Airbnb where Jay stayed saw him "walking fast" up a dangerous ravine
- Brit cops offered to fly out and help but Spanish officials said no
- Jay’s mum slammed the Tenerife police investigation
- A possible new sighting of Jay placed him 3.5 miles away from where he vanished with two men
- The missing teen's dad and brother visited the search site
- Cops turn their search to several brick outbuildings near Jay's last known location
He had headed to Masca with two British men at the end of a three-day music festival he flew to Tenerife to attend.
Jay stayed at their rented Airbnb for a couple of hours before trying to make his way back to his holiday accommodation.
His distraught dad today broke down in tears as he told how his family are going through a "living hell".
Warren, 55, told The Sun: “I just want him to be found. I just want my son back, end of.
“What more is there, it’s been a week now, a week of nothing. So somebody somewhere must’ve found out something. Somebody.
“It is a living hell, unless you’re going through it, you cannot explain.
“Please, please please, if anybody knows anything just come forward and help us.
"I don’t know if anything undertoward has happened to Jay. One minute he was here, next minute he’s disappeared.
“I don’t believe he’s still in that mountain. The police have put every effort into finding him. It’s bleak and barren.
“The authorities have done everything they can in the search, everybody is up there looking for him."
Warren has been putting up missing person posters in the village of Santiago del Teide.
The tearful dad has also been sharing a grainy CCTV image he believes could be his son.
It shows a mystery figure walking past a church in Santiago del Teide last Monday at around 6pm - hours after Jay was reported missing.
The village is around 7km from the Masca village Jay vanished from one week ago.
Police are yet to confirm whether as a potential sighting - but Jay's family are praying it is.
Jay's mum said a man had come forward to say he saw someone matching her son's description sitting on a bench with two men in the same area.
