Jay Slater cops ‘fear it’s unlikely he’ll be found alive’ in ‘immense’ mountain wilderness

POLICE hunting for Jay Slater in Tenerife fear it is unlikely he will be found alive if he got lost in the mountains.

Authorities on the island are pushing ahead with the search for the 19-year-old, who vanished 11 days ago.

Jay has been missing since last MondaySolarpix

PA

Detectives have so far found no trace of Jay[/caption]

Cops say there is no talk yet of halting the search despite growing concerns they will find a body.

The Civil Guard which has been leading the operation near the village of Masca where the teenager was last seen said today it was continuing as normal.

More sniffer dogs trained in searching for people over large expanses of land were flown in from Madrid and incorporated into the operation on Tuesday.

A Civil Guard spokesman said today: “The Civil Guard is continuing to search for the young British man who disappeared, carrying out inspections of all the paths, trails and ravines belonging to the village of Masca within the municipality of Buenavista del Norte.”

The force also released footage showing officers moving on foot through some of the rough and remote terrain and others carrying out aerial inspections in the Civil Guard helicopter.

A well-placed source added: “No-one at the moment is talking about the search being brought to an end, even though it’s very unlikely Jay has survived if he got lost in the mountains in the way we were told he did.

“There will be a point when the operation that’s taking place at the moment has to at least be scaled back but right now the search teams appear to have decided they want to give themselves more time.”

After going to a rave that finished in the early hours of June 17, Jay headed to Masca with two British men he had met that night.

He shared a final Snapchat from their Airbnb of a hand holding a cigarette at 7.30am.

Jay then tried to make his way back to his holiday accommodation – an 11 hour walk away.

But at around 8.50am he made a final frantic call to friend Lucy, telling her he was lost in the “middle of nowhere” with no water and had just one per cent battery on his phone.

It sparked a mammoth search operation involving helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs that has so far drawn blanks.

Rescue crews have been focusing their efforts on the 2,000ft Masca ravine in the north, where his phone last pinged a nearby cell tower.