Jay Slater has been missing since Monday (Image: Facebook)
Spanish police have issued a grim update in the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater.
They have vowed to carry on the search but expect their efforts could lead them to discover a body.
In a brief 12-word update, the Guardia Civil said: “Officers obviously are prepared for the possibility they may find a body.”
Photos released by the force, who are leading the search to find the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer, are now combing through the mountainous terrains close to the Tenerife village of Masca where he vanished early Monday.
The operations include multiple rounds of a police helicopter scouring Masca Gorge, specialist mountain rescue unit Greim officers, and other teams with scent dogs exploring the ground. Firefighters and Civil Protection workers, employing drones, have also been facilitating the Civil Guard-led operation, scheduled to persist today and extend into the weekend if required.
One insider commented this morning: “There’s no talk at this stage of scaling down the efforts to find this missing man and certainly not of suspending it. The plan at the moment is to continue until he is found.
“Officers obviously are prepared for the possibility they may find a body but at the moment everyone is focused on the idea he is still alive and they can help reunite him with his family and friends.”
Cops are combing the mountainous region surrounding the Airbnb he stayed at (Image: PA)
The release of the first police footage from the search operation has sparked a wave of support for British firefighters after some critics questioned their efforts, as revealed in online exchanges. The firefighters, who had been documenting their search efforts, also managed to save a cat trapped in a car in Puerto de Santiago amidst their operations.
Thea Shepherd criticised images showing fire crews merely walking along a road near where Jay was last seen, saying: “I hope you’re doing more than walking down the road looking over the edge.”
In a sharp retort, local Jose Chinea hit back: “Yea they see if they can find a piece of mud to stick it in your gob.”
Sharon Lawrence, incensed by disrespectful comments, garnered backing when she stated: “To put anything rude on this post is downright respectful.”
She continued to defend the search teams: “They are doing all they can and if you’re from our country, the UK, I suggest you keep your mouth shut if you’ve nothing constructive to say unless you think you can do any better.”
Police helicopters have been deployed to look for Jay (Image: Solarpix)
Highlighting the challenging terrain, she added: “There’s a lot of greenery, steep cliffs and so on to search.”
Addressing the possibility that Jay might have been abducted, she noted: “Yes agreed something more sinister may have taken place.”
Lawrence concluded with a strong message supporting the searchers: “But that gives nobody the right to vilify these folks who are trying their upmost to locate this young lad. Jay, I hope they find you son.”
The community has rallied together in a heartwarming display of solidarity, with one local resident expressing her gratitude to the search teams: “Thank you for helping to look for this young lad, please stay safe and let’s hope this is a happy outcome for all.”
Cathy Sykes, another concerned citizen, shared her hopes: “Good luck to all the kind people who have taken time out of their daily lives to search for the missing boy Jay.”
Jay was in Tenerife for NRG festival (Image: Handout)
As the search intensified, new information emerged regarding Jay’s last known whereabouts.
Early on Monday morning, he contacted his friend Lucy Law, who was also in Tenerife for a music festival, revealing that he was disoriented, desperately thirsty, and his phone battery was nearly depleted after leaving the event with two individuals he had recently met.
The rented accommodation has been pinpointed as a two-bedroom £40-per-night property named Casa Abuela Tina, nestled in the village of Masca, a 50-minute drive north from Los Cristianos where Jay had been residing.
Local resident Ofelia Medina Hernandez disclosed how she had spotted the teenager wandering in the wrong direction along a winding mountain road shortly after he had stopped her outside the house to inquire about bus schedules.
She said: “He was alone when I first saw him just before eight o’clock on Monday morning. He asked me what time the bus went by although he didn’t tell me where he wanted to go.
“I told him it came at ten and because he obviously didn’t understand he asked me the same question again and this time I put my fingers up to indicate it was ten o’clock.
“Then I went back home briefly before starting to drive to the town of Buenavista del Norte and that’s when I saw him again, but this time walking on the road out of the village on the same side as me.
“It would have been no later than 8.10 and it was about a kilometre from where I’d seen him at the house. He was alone and he was walking quite fast. I drove past him and that’s the last time I saw him. I’ve given police this information and I don’t know anymore.”
She added: “I didn’t see him and the people who were renting the property get back but I’ve been told there was noise around 6am on Monday so I imagine it was around that time.
“The missing lad seemed okay. I imagine he’d been drinking if he’d been at a festival but it didn’t show in the way he spoke to me and I remember thinking when I saw him so far up the road as I went to Buenavista that he was going fast. He wasn’t trying to get cars to stop when I saw him but I don’t know if anyone then picked him up.
“It’s a twisting country road but it’s not dangerous. But if he was trying to head south he was going in completely the wrong direction and the bus stop is in the village, not where he was heading. I only found afterwards he was apparently trying to get back to Los Cristianos. He didn’t ask me where the bus was going, just what time the next bus came by.
“I think the men that rented the house arrived on Friday and were going to leave on Monday but left Tuesday in the end. I don’t know why they left a day late but if they’d done anything wrong or suspicious then you wouldn’t expect them to stay an extra day.”