Jay Slater’s family have spoken out through the missing persons charity LBT Global after a body has been found in the hunt for the missing teen.
The discovery comes after a specialist Dutch search team arrived in Tenerife on Sunday to help in the hunt for the British teenager.
In a statement overseas missing persons charity LBT Global said: “LBT Global is saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater. It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
“Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes.
“A post-mortem examination and forensic enquiries will follow.
“LBT Global are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.”
The Lancashire teenager went missing almost a month ago on Monday 17th June, after partying all night at a rave at the Papagayo club, in Playa de las Americas.
A massive manhunt was launched by local authorities but failed to come up with any clues as to his whereabouts.
The official search was eventually called off by police at the end of June, although Jay’s family remained in the Canary Islands and refused to give up hope of finding him.
A GoFundMe page has raised more than £53,000, allowing the family to continue their search.
Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan revealed at the weekend that some of the funds were going towards paying for the Dutch search team.
In a moving statement over the weekend, Debbie said Jay was on the verge of finishing a three-year apprenticeship to become a bricklayer.
She said: “Jay is just a normal hard-working young lad from Lancashire who is very loved by all who know him.
“He is about to finish his three-year apprenticeship this month. Although we don’t have any answers to his disappearance we obviously have to remain positive.
“Please continue to pray for him and our family. There is a lot of negativity unfortunately and this is adding to the heartbreak of the unknown.
“So I would please just say send the love and positive thoughts to Jay, our beautiful son.”