British teenager Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire went missing on Monday 17 June in Tenerife after attending a weekend rave at the NRG Tenerife Weekender festival in Playa de las Americas resort. Slater last contacted his friend Lucy Law around 8:15 am and mentioned that he planned to walk back to his accommodation but was thirsty and had only 1% phone charge left. Search efforts for Slater included emergency services, mountain rescue teams, sniffer dogs, drones, helicopters, volunteers with expertise in treacherous terrain near Masca in the Rural de Teno national park. One of Slater's last calls was a video call to his friend Brad Hargreaves who heard him sliding off the path he was on but couldn't determine if it was significant. The search operation, described as a 'búsqueda masiva,' took place on Saturday and involved professionals such as civil protection workers or firefighters, along with volunteers. However, no sign of Slater was found during the search. Tenerife police have now called off the search but kept the case open.
Slater had been holidaying in Tenerife with friends and went to the three-day NRG Tenerife Weekender festival at venues in Playa de las Americas resort. In the early hours of Monday morning, he left a resort in a car with two British men and headed to an Airbnb property in Masca, a remote hilltop hamlet. He was last heard from around 8:15 am when he told Law that he planned to walk back to his holiday accommodation after missing a bus.
The search for Slater centered around valleys and ravines in the mountainous terrain near Masca in the Rural de Teno national park. The authorities asked for help from professionals such as civil protection workers or firefighters, along with volunteers with expertise in that type of terrain. About a dozen people arrived at the designated meeting point to assist.
It emerged on Friday that one of Slater's last calls was a video call to another friend, Brad Hargreaves. Hargreaves told ITV News that he heard Slater apparently sliding off the path he was on. 'He was on the phone walking down a road ... and he'd gone over a little bit - not a big drop but a tiny little drop and he was going down,' said Hargreaves, adding, 'If [Slater] was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again. He wouldn't have gone all that way down there.'
The authorities in Tenerife spoke to the two men who rented the Airbnb in Masca and they were 'not in any way relevant to the case.' The family of Slater has vowed to stay on Tenerife until he is found. Former British police officer Mark Williams-Thomas advised them to use GoFundMe money for bringing in experts for search efforts. TikTok star Paul Arnott pledged his support and assistance in helping Jay's family with the search.
