Laurence Dollimore
A DESPERATE search is underway for a British teen who has gone missing in Spain.
Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared from Tenerife on Monday (June 17).
His worried friend Lucy told the Manchester Evening News how he had gone to stay with people he met on a night out.
However at around 8am yesterday, he called Lucy from ‘the middle of nowhere’ after trying to catch a bus from near the apartment he had stayed in.
He told her he had decided to walk instead but only had 1% battery on his mobile phone and that he needed a drink of water.
Jay has not been seen since, sparking a frantic search by police and friends on the island.
Lucy travelled to where his phone was traced to last, in the Rural de Teno Park, which she described as being ‘in the middle of nowhere’ and a popular spot for hikers.
Officials at the UK Foreign Office are supporting Jay’s family, while his mother has travlled to the island.
A spokesperson for the department also confirmed that they are in touch with the local authorities.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Jay and Lucy travelled to Tenerife to attend a music festival. Lucy told the MEN she has ‘never been so worried in my life.’
She said: “He’s gone on a night out, he’s gone to a friend’s house, someone that he has met on holiday.
“One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he’s driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.
“He’s ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there.
“But then in the morning he’s set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around.
“He rang me at about 8 o’clock in the morning saying his phone was on 1 per cent, he said ‘I don’t know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die’.”
