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Almost three days have passed since the missing British teenager Jay Slater was last heard from on the island of Tenerife.
The 19-year-old was his first holiday without his family when he vanished while walking back to his accommodation on Monday morning.
He had gone to stay with two people he had met at the NRG music festival and, having missed the last bus back, embarked on what would have been an 11 hour walk.
The apprentice bricklayer has not been seen or heard from since calling his friend at 8:15am to tell her he was lost, in need of water and that his phone was low on battery.
Authorities are scouring the island’s Rural de Teno park, an area popular with hikers and thought to be his last known location.
As the search for the missing teenager approaches it’s third day, here’s everything we know about his disappearance:
Where is his last known location?
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard from on Monday morning as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot.
He had been on the island to attend NRG music festival with friends in what was his first holiday without his family.
On Sunday, his friend Lucy Mae told Manchester Evening News that she had left the festival early, with Jay staying on with some friends. He later stayed at their accomodation but left in the morning to return to his own.
Lucy Mae was the last to hear from the teenager when he called her at 8:15am on Monday, alerting her that he was lost, needed water and that his phone was on one per cent.
Lucy told the MEN that one of the people Mr Slater had met had driven them back to his apartment in a hire car and the missing man had not realised how far away it was.
“He’s ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there,” she said.
“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.”
Mr Slater’s phone then cut off, with his last location showing as the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous area popular with hikers in the north of the island.
Where have authorities been searching?
A specialist mountain rescue team, including a police helicopter, has been deployed to look for Jay.
A spokesperson for the Civil Guard said it was focusing on the area around the village of Masca – which is nearby his last known location in the north.
Authorities briefly switched their search to the south of the island in tourist on Wednesday, close to where Jay was staying with friends in the popular tourist hotspots Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas.
However, they later returned the search to the Rural de Teno park after the alleged sighting of Jay was believed to be false.
What has his friends and family said?
Jay’s friends and family have raised concerns he may have been taken against his will.
His mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning to search for him.
Ms Duncan said she feared her son, who is an apprentice bricklayer, had “been taken against his will”.
She told the PA news agency: “It’s just traumatic and it doesn’t feel real. It’s just awful, it’s horrendous.
“I think he’s been taken against his will with what’s been said, but it’s in the hands of the police.”
She added that the police leading the search had been “very good”.
Source: independent.co.uk
