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Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, attended a music festival in southern Tenerife on Sunday. Photo/Facebook
Search for missing British teen Tenerife Now in its fifth day of disappearance, more than half a million people have joined a group and started posting outlandish theories about his disappearance online.
Jay Slater, 19, had been attending a music festival on the Spanish island but vanished on Monday morning after telling friends he was lost in the mountains and extremely thirsty.
Family and friends flew to the island to help with the search, and helicopters, rescue dogs and drones were used to scour the arid terrain of his last known location.
Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, called his friend Lucy May Lowe at 8.30am on Monday morning, after the pair had attended the NRG festival, telling her he was “lost in the mountains, had no idea of my surroundings, needed a drink urgently and my phone had 1% battery”.
It is believed he may have been trying to walk back to his holiday accommodation after missing his bus.
Rachel Louise Haag, administrator of the Facebook page “Jay Slater is Missing,” said in a series of posts that family and friends were in a “living nightmare” as they tried to help find the teen.
She explained how she was “struggling to find the words” and that “we’re still searching, everyone’s trying their best” but they were “exhausted and unable to find words”.
Volunteers also flew to the small village of Masca to assist in the search, with some posting videos and comments on social media sites such as Facebook and TikTok.
Other online sleuths, however, indulge in wild speculation and conspiracy theories that can hinder the search.
Some speculated that Slater had been kidnapped, while others believed he was simply in hiding.
Other posts falsely suggested some of his personal belongings had been recovered, but Spanish police were keeping the discovery “secret”.
More than 464,000 people have joined the “Jay Slater is Missing” Facebook page, and another 40,000 have signed up on other websites.
Moderators urged people not to post “unhelpful” comments or inaccurate information, adding that they would ban those who posted “malicious” comments.
One woman wrote: “Some of the comments and posts here are just disgusting… please give me some respect.”
Others complained about “armchair detectives” publishing ridiculous theories about his disappearance or criticizing the search efforts.
Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife on Tuesday and said the search for her son was “a living nightmare”.
She told ITV News: “He was the life and soul of our family, a beautiful boy.”
She also called on anyone holding her son to “let him go”, further fuelling speculation about the cause of his disappearance.
The “Bring Jay Slater Home” crowdfunding site set up by Law has received more than £24,000 ($49,600) in donations.
Search and rescue teams, along with officers from the island’s National Guard, were conducting a search near the village of Masca, with their focus appearing to be on a particular area covered in weeds.
Officers scanned the terrain with binoculars before the team dispersed to the bottom of the hill.
Search and rescue teams are also focusing on a river at the bottom of the canyon called the Barranco Madre del Agua.
Earlier, a helicopter flew over Teno Country Park and Muska Gorge, and police officers with search dogs searched along a network of paths crisscrossing the scrub-covered hillside.
Slater attended the three-day NRG Music Festival at Papagayo Beach Club in southern Tenerife on Sunday.
On Monday morning, he posted a Snapchat video that appeared to show him with friends in the north of the island. At about 8:30 a.m., Lowe received a call from him saying he was lost.
It took him more than 10 hours to walk from the festival to his home in Los Cristianos. It is understood that his mobile phone was located near Masca at around 8:50 am on Monday and then ran out of battery.
Police also focused their attention on a remote farmhouse where Slater was understood to have gone with two British men he had met on holiday.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez, a local woman from nearby Masca, said she saw a boy she thought to be Slater driving the wrong way on a winding mountain road, shortly after he stopped her outside her home to ask about the bus schedule.
She reportedly said: “When I first saw him just before 8am on Monday, he was alone. He asked me what time the bus left but didn’t tell me where he wanted to go.”
“I told him it was 10 o’clock, but he obviously didn’t understand, so he asked me the same question again, and this time I held up my finger to indicate it was 10 o’clock.
“Then I went home to rest for a while before driving to the town of Buenavista del Norte, and that’s when I saw him again, but this time he was walking on the same side as me on the way out of the village.
“It would have been no later than 8:10, about a kilometre from where I last saw him. He was alone and walking very fast. I drove past him and that was the last time I saw him. I gave this information to the police and now I no longer know it.”
Law said she had spoken to the two men who filmed Mr Slater in the north of the island and posted the Snapchat post, and they said Mr Slater wanted to go home but declined the offer of a ride.
Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, shorts and sneakers and carrying a black bag.
Lancashire Constabulary said on Friday night that Spanish police had refused their offer of help.
A statement said: “Firstly, our thoughts are with Jay’s family at this time. They must be going through the most heartbreaking ordeal not knowing what happened to their loved one.
“We have dedicated officers continuing to support Jay’s family.
“While this case does not fall within the jurisdiction of the UK police, we have offered our support to the Home Guard to see if they require any additional resources. The Home Guard has confirmed that at this time they are satisfied they have the resources they require, but that the offer remains in place and they will contact us if the situation changes.
“Once again, we extend our condolences to Jay’s family and friends during this tragic time.”
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man missing in Spain and are in liaison with local authorities.”
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