As a 'massive' search for missing Jay Slater is prepared, the island of Tenerife fell silent

The search for missing teenager Jay Slater has resonated across the world. From people across the globe praying for the teenager’s safe return, to the emergency workers scouring treacherous regions in a bid to find him, to those who love Jay most pleading that he just comes home – this case has been filled with voices and confusion.

Saturday will see a ‘massive’ renewed search for Jay begin. The Civil Guard has issued a call to arms.

The police have urged all the emergency workers who have already been searching day and night for Jay to redouble their efforts, and has also asked for volunteers and experts in the type of territory and the area to come and help.

READ MORE: Missing Jay Slater latest: Search teams share hopes ahead of 'massive' push to find him in Tenerife

But the afternoon before, as the twelfth day wore on, the major search sites all had one thing in common. They were quiet. The calm before the storm.

Only a slim number of police trucks and emergency vehicles were spotted at the two main search areas today. A small group of Asociacion Ayuda en Emergencias Anaga (AEA), which have been working closely with the Civil Guard and other authorities over the last 12 days, arrived just before 5pm in the Mirador La Cruz de Hilda area – which has been the epicentre of much of the searching.

When asked by the Manchester Evening News about whether tomorrow’s ‘massive search’ could bring renewed hopes or progress, emergency rescuers said ‘maybe, maybe not… we just don’t know’.

The group also told of how there were a handful of workers and police in Santiago del Tiede, another busy site for emergency workers in the west of Tenerife. There has also been some helicopter activity over the last day, with police helicopters being sighted along the coast and by the airport in the south of the island.

But both areas have been especially quiet today, according to eyewitnesses.

Police in Tenerife made a major announcement this morning (June 28) in the continued search for the 19-year-old from Lancashire. The authorities are launching a 'massive search' around the 'multitude of roads, trails and ravines that are found in Masca', the village where the 19-year-old was last tracked.

The Civil Guard issued a statement saying it is 'preparing and coordinating' a 'massive search' from 9am tomorrow, June 29. The search area, previously described as 'immense', is said to be around 30km wide and has been focusing on three main ravines in the Masca area.

When it first expanded, the search then involved a number of forest trails and tracks within the Buenavista del Norte municipality. In this morning's announcement, the Civil Guard is calling for the 'collaboration of all volunteer associations', including civil protection, firefighters, and 'even private volunteers' who are 'experts in the field of search'. In a tragic update on Thursday, police searching for the teen said it was 'very unlikely' Jay will be found alive. A well-placed source from the Civil Guard said: “No-one at the moment is talking about the search being brought to an end, even though it’s very unlikely Jay has survived if he got lost in the mountains in the way we were told he did."

Police this week confirmed the Civil Guard are looking to the north of the Masca Gorge. Three separate ravines – including one where it is believed the 19-year-old's phone last 'pinged' shortly after he disappeared are also being searched. The area where his phone was last tracked was in the Rural de Teno Park - an area popular with hikers, near the village of Masca.

The 'massive search' will begin in Masca, the village close to the rural Airbnb rental where Jay stayed the night before he went missing. Translated, the announcement from the Civil Guard reads: "The Civil Guard prepares and will coordinate a macro search to find the young British [man] missing in the town of Masca.

"The collaboration of all those volunteer associations is requested: Civil Protection, Firefighters, etc., and even private volunteers experts in the abrupt field of search. The massive raid will take place on Saturday, June 29 from 9.00 a.m.

"On the occasion of the disappearance, from the afternoon/night of June 17, of the 19-year-old British boy in the Masca area, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte, the Civil Guard is preparing to carry out a massive search.

"Taking into account that it is a steep, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and paths, the collaboration of all those volunteer associations that can help in that raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated way is requested.

"That massive search will begin on Saturday, June 29 at 9.00am., a meeting point will be established at the Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda (Masca), to start the search in a logical and orderly way in the multitude of roads, trails and ravines that are found in Masca.

"Volunteers must contact the Civil Guard by calling 696434031, before 8.00pm on Friday, June 28."