Family and friends make desperate plea after British teen, 19, goes missing in Tenerife
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Handout/TripAdvisor
The family and friends of a British teen who has gone missing in Tenerife have made an urgent plea to find him.
Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to Tenerife with his friends for a music festival.
He went to the Canary Island with his friend Lucy and another friend, but has been reported missing after he went to stay with people he had met on the holiday after a night out.
The apartment he went to was in the ‘middle of nowhere’, Lucy told Manchester Evening News.
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On 17 June, Jay called Lucy to say he was trying to walk back after not being able to catch a bus, she said.
He told her his phone battery was on 1 percent, that he needed a drink of water, but 'didn't know where he was'.
His phone then died, with his last location showing as being in ‘the middle of the mountains with nothing around’.
His location was revealed to be in the Rural de Teno Park - or the National Park of Teno, north west of the island.
Lucy said she is frantically searching for her friend, adding: “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 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 8am saying his phone was on 1 percent, he said 'I don't know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die'."
She said that police had sent mountain rescue teams up to the area yesterday, and had spoken to the people Jay was staying with, who'd said that he had left their apartment around 8am to ‘catch a bus’.
Lucy said that she had been driving everywhere looking for Jay 'in all the nooks and crannies', but no efforts have been successful yet.
Jay's mother is also on her way to Tenerife and the British Embassy has been informed, the BBC reports.
"I've never been so worried in my life." Lucy said.
Jay was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with shorts and trainers. He was also said to be carrying a black bag.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told Tyla: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities."