Senior staff at the Tenerife nightclub where Jay Slater was last seen partying are tight-lipped over the incident. The 19-year-old Lancashire lad attended an NRG Festival rave at Papagayo in Playa de las Americas before his mysterious disappearance on June 17 in Tenerife.
After the event, Jay travelled north to a secluded Airbnb with two men who had invited him over, only to leave the property on foot later, venturing into the Rural Parc de Teno. Despite emergency services conducting searches for Jay until June 30, he remains missing, and the investigation is still active.
A waitress who claims to have seen Jay during the rave has expressed concern about his condition, noting that he seemed “unstable on his feet” and “didn’t look well,” The Sun reported. The Manchester Evening News reached out to Papagayo for comments on Jay’s disappearance and the waitress’ observations on July 13.
However, a shift manager at the club was reluctant to engage with the queries. When asked to comment on Jay’s disappearance, he curtly responded: “No one will be talking.”
Upon mentioning the waitress’ remarks regarding Jay’s appearance at the club, the manager reiterated: “No one would be speaking about that.”
Meanwhile, video footage making rounds on the internet shows a young man resembling Jay at the rave, wearing what appears to be the same outfit he was last seen in.
The waitress who encountered Jay at the club said: “I remembered Jay because he was unstable on his feet. I gave him some water for free as he didn’t look well. I remembered him, my boyfriend called me in the morning and said he was missing.”
“I recognised his picture straight away. I feel so sad, it feels very close to home as I am his age as well. I feel so much for his family.”
Ex-police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been looking into the disappearance, provided an update Friday. He relayed accounts from witnesses who saw Jay “very much awake and still buzzing” on the morning of June 17.
Following the incident, NRG Festival released a statement on social media. It said: “Firstly, thank you to everyone who came to our NRG event in Tenerife last weekend. As you’ll be aware, among the attendees was 19-year-old Jay Slater who, after leaving the event, was reported missing in the north of the island on Monday.
“We are grateful for the many thousands who have engaged with and shared the appeals from our own and many other channels over the days since. Despite the widespread coverage and hard work of the local authorities and volunteers involved in the search at the time of posting, Jay has not yet been found. That such a devastating situation has arisen has deeply affected us all.”