Yahoo News TikTok star with 260K followers joins hunt for missing Jay Slater
A TikTok star with more than 260,000 followers has joined the hunt for missing Oswaldtwistle teenager Jay Slater.
Paul Arnott, whose TikTok account is called @downtherapids, has been helping to look for the 19-year-old in Tenerife and documenting the process on his social media channels.
Paul, a mountaineer and adventurer, cancelled a charity fundraiser in Scotland in order to take part in the search.
He has been searching 'hard to reach' areas that search dogs and drones cannot access.
Masca in Tenerife, where Paul Arnott has been looking for Jay Slater (Image: Paul Arnott)
He wants to use his skills to search the mountainous area of Masca, Jay’s last known location.
Paul said: “I am getting so many messages from so many people offering help to support me and pay for hotels. I am so grateful.
“People are talking about setting up a GoFundMe [for my travel expenses] but this is something I would never do.
“I am meant to be walking 500 miles for Scottish Mountain Rescue, that’s what I should be doing right now but I am out in Tenerife searching.
“I need to be here and helping Jay. I need to be using my skills to help people here. I do feel guilty that I am not doing that because it was a really big thing for me.
“I am so grateful to have you guys as an audience. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been watching me for one week.”
Paul has been updating followers about the search since landing in Tenerife last week.
In one of his videos, Paul gave viewers a glimpse of the dangerous terrain in the area. He said temperatures fluctuate throughout the day with low visibility due to clouds at times.
In one video he shows terrain with cacti, rocks and foliage.
He said: “I am going to give you an example of the terrain Jay has possibly come through.
“This is potentially what Jay could have slid down into, all this sort of material. Now you can understand why dogs can’t come into this area and why drones are no use.”
Paul has also jumped to the defence of Jay’s family, addressing the hate messages that have been posted about them.
He said: “I wasn’t even going to talk about it but I am getting really sick of people having digs [sic] at the family [asking] why the family have not been searching.
“The family have been out looking but I would not expect for one second for the family to be out searching [in this environment].
“It’s not terrain you can walk through, this isn’t a [place you can easily walk through]. This is for mountain rescue.
“If I got lost in a place like this I would not expect my family to come out in this sort of environment. It is so dangerous.
“I would only want mountain rescue and those who are trained to come out. People are doing their best out there.
“Social media can be such a beautiful place but It can also bring so much negativity. There are so many sad, small-minded people on social media.
“People who are full of love and joy never hate. Support the family, they are amazing they really are.”
Rachel Hargreaves, a family friend, has helped run Facebook page Jay Slater Missing which has since been joined by more than 590,000 people.
Rachel, whose son Brad was on holiday with Jay before he went missing, says cruel trolls have set up fake Facebook profiles pretending to be her dead mother.
She also says she has had to read “cruel and awful” posts about Jay and his loved ones.
Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, she said: “I set the Facebook group up because I was still in the UK and wanted to find out if anyone had any sightings of him.
“Now trolls are posting in the group. People are setting up fake profiles pretending to be me.”
Jay has not been heard of since June 17. Since then there have been no major advancements or updates in the search.
