Jay Slater rescue teams move on to new area in search for teenager missing in Tenerife

Search teams looking fo r missing teenager Jay Slater have started exploring a new area in the effort to find him.

The 19-year-old, had flown to the Canary Islands with two pals to attend the NRG music festival. He didn't come back to his accomodation in Tenerife on Sunday evening after going to stay in an apartment with people he had met, reports the Mirror.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, went missing on Monday morning after he told a friend he was walking back to his accommodation. He had missed his bus, and, despite being tired and short of phone battery, said he would brave the 11-hour trek. He was last seen in the popular hiking area Rural de Teno national park.

A huge search has been ongoing on the island for the teenager in the days since his disappearance.

Mountain rescue teams have now focused their efforts on a ravine in the Masca valley. This area is approximately 100 meters below the rental property where Jay, 19, was last seen on Monday morning, and on the opposite side of the mountain pass that rescuers were searching on Thursday.

A source said: "Teams are searching high and low. It's a very rural and unforgiving area to search with undulating terrain and lots of dangers. The intention is to carry on until the boy is found."

Jay Slater has been missing in Tenerife since Monday
Jay Slater has been missing in Tenerife since Monday -Credit:Wales Online

This morning, a police helicopter was spotted flying over the Masca Gorge, while officers from the specialist mountain rescue unit Greim, along with scent dogs, searched on the ground. Though the Guardia Civil is leading the operation, it is a coordinated, multi-agency effort involving firefighters and local Civil Protection workers.

Photos reveal that drones have been deployed to assist the search, with one source stating that efforts will continue until the teenager is found.

A source said 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.

Emergency workers near the village of Masca, Tenerife, search for missing British teenager Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle. -Credit:PA
Emergency workers near the village of Masca, Tenerife, search for missing British teenager Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle. -Credit:PA

"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."

Jay's mum Debbie Duncan flew out to the island on Tuesday to assist officers with the search. Sge has said she wouldn't wish the nightmare she is going through on anybody.

She made a tearful plea for help and summed up her feelings as she faces the desperate situation no parent ever wants to go through. In a desperate plea, she said: "I just want my baby back".

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