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5 months ago
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MISSING Brit teenager Jay Slater was all smiles in a chilling Snapchat clip sent the night before he shockingly vanished in Tenerife.
The 19-year-old from Lancashire was on the holiday island for a three-day music festival and had stayed the night with people he had just met before disappearing on his way home on Monday.
Not known, clear with picture desk
Jay Slater (right) pictured with his brother Zak and mum Debbie – who has flown out to the island
The teen from Lancashire was on the island with pals for a music festival
Jay, 19, pictured days before he disappeared on the island of Tenerife
The Brit teen’s last known location was the Teno Rural Park
He vanished after making a desperate phone call at 8am on Monday morning to his long-time pal Lucy – saying he was in the “middle of nowhere”.
The frantic teen said he was lost, needed water and only had 1 per cent battery left on his mobile phone.
Jay told Lucy he “didn’t know where he was” and that he needed a drink of water before the call cut off.
His last known location was Teno Rural Park in the northwest of Tenerife – a popular hiking spot for tourists.
The new Snapchat clip now shows what Jay was wearing the night before he disappeared.
The footage was taken on Sunday night (June 16) by relative Isabelle Price near the Arona area of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Jay was seen sporting a grey sports t-shirt with a light green strip on the shoulders and a black crossbody bag.
Now a desperate police search is underway, with cops and mountain rescue scouring the rugged landscape with drones and police helicopters.
Temperatures of up to 26 degrees celsius were recorded around the time Jay went missing.
A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife said: “A specialist Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group called the Greim has been mobilised.
“A police helicopter is also out and focusing on the area around the village of Masca.
“Other emergency services including firefighters have also been mobilised.
“Everything possible is being done to try to find the missing man.”
Jay’s mum flew out to Tenerife with Jay’s older brother on Tuesday to help with the frantic search.
Her partner Andy Watson, 63, said “Jay was no mug” but could have taken a wrong turn on an 8-hour walk back to his hotel.
He said Jay could have got even more lost during the 8-hour hike after losing his bearings.
Speaking outside their home in Oswaldtwistle, Andy told The Sun: “It’s really worrying. It feels like a blur at the moment.
“Jay is very streetwise and he’s no mug but if it’s it was dark and he had no touch on his phone he could have gone the wrong way and become more lost than he was.”
Andy said Jay had disappeared after going to a rave with his pal Lucy.
He said: “Lucy contacted Debbie to say he’d gone back with two English lads he met at the party to their place for a few beers.
“Apparently, where they are staying is eight hours walking distance from where Jay is staying.”
However, Lucy said the people Jay met on Sunday night were staying in an apartment “in the middle of nowhere”.
She told Manchester Evening News: “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.”
Jay vanished in Tenerife after spending the night with new friends
Jay’s mum Debbie has flown to Tenerife to help with the frantic search for her son
Jay was at the three-day NRG festival on the island of TenerifeDebbie said from Tenerife that Jay was likely “disorientated” and didn’t realise it was an 8-hour walk back to his apartment in the south of the island.
Speaking from the south of the island where her son had been staying, she said: “I just think it was a question of him not knowing the island well enough.”
Debbie said her son “would have consumed a fair bit of alcohol” while at the festival – but he “seemed very compos mentis” before he went missing.
She said: “I know the last place he spoke to his friend Lucy from was in the mountains and I think the police have got a more precise location now.
“I imagine they’re also speaking to the people whose place he went back to.
“I imagine we will head up north nearer the spot Jay was when he disappeared.”
Debbie also said she has been bombarded with prank calls from trolls claiming to have kidnapped her son.
She told how Brits with “northern accents” have been calling her with hidden numbers, claiming they had her son captive and were keeping him because he owed them money.
She said: “I just don’t know why people would want to do things like this.
“I’ve been getting lots of prank calls. It’s sickening.
“People ringing me and saying they’ve got Jay because he owes them money.
“But it’s not putting me off… I want to keep this in the news because it’s going to increase the chances of Jay being found safe and well which is obviously what we’re praying for.”
She added: “I’m obviously beside myself with worry which is why I’ve flown out here with my eldest son to do anything we can to help.
“We’re just praying the police or someone finds Jay. I know there’s a mountain rescue team out and a helicopter.
“Nothing’s ever going to be enough when your youngest son’s gone missing, but it sounds as though the police here are taking this very seriously and doing the best job they can.”
Debbie also posted a plea for help on her Facebook asking for anyone in Tenerife to share a missing poster of Jay.
Local police and the British Embassy have been told about Jay’s disappearance with mountain rescue teams and a helicopter patrolling the park since Monday.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office 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.”
Jay’s last location before his phone died said he was in Rural de Teno Park in Tenerife
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