The mother of British teenager Jay Slater has pleaded for privacy as the search for her son continues in Tenerife.
Slater, 19, went missing on Monday morning after attending a music festival on the island. His stepfather, Andy Watson, has confirmed that Slater’s mum Debbie had flown out to Tenerife with her eldest son Zak and had now been joined by several more family members to help in the search.
Watson, 63, told LancsLive that Slater’s mother is “in bits and asking for some privacy“. He added: “Nothing has changed and more family are flying out this morning.”
Watson also told The Sun that he fears Slater may have “taken a wrong turn” while out walking back to his accommodation in Tenerife. He said: ”Jay is very streetwise and he’s no mug but if it’s it was dark and he had no touch on his phone he could have gone the wrong way and become more lost than he was.”
A friend of Slater, named as Lucy, also said he rung her to tell her his phone was nearly out of battery and told her: “I don’t know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die.”
Here is what we know, and don’t know, about Slater’s disappearance.
What we know
Slater, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had travelled to Tenerife with friends – named in local media as Lucy and Brad – to attend the NRG Tenerife Weekender music festival.
It was Slater’s first holiday abroad without his parents. The festival, which bills itself as “three days of madness featuring pool parties, boat parties, outdoor raves, nightclub takeovers and much more”, ran from Friday to Sunday.
Lucy, speaking to the Manchester Evening News, said Slater decided to stay out on Sunday with other people he had met at the festival while she and Brad went back to their accommodation. She said one of that group had a hire car and Slater “ended up out in the middle of nowhere”.
His last known location so far was near the mountain village of Masca. Lucy suggested this was an 11-hour walk away from where she and Brad were staying and that Slater hadn’t realised how far away it was. “He’s set off walking, using his maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around.”
Slater called Lucy just before 9am on Monday and said he had missed a bus back, needed water and only had 1% battery left on his phone. The phone then went flat. His last location showed as the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous area popular with hikers.
Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers. He was also believed to be carrying a black bag.
A Civil Guard [Spanish police] spokesperson said he was reported missing at 9.04am on Monday. Helicopters and a “mountain specialist team” have been mobilised as part of the search.
Debbie’s partner of 11 years, Andy Watson, described the moment police knocked on the door of their quiet cul-de-sac to inform them Jay was missing. Andy, 63, said: “It was about 2:30am in the early hours. When the police said: ‘The best thing you can do is get yourself out there’ we knew it was bad. This was his first holiday on his own. I’m just hoping he’s gone to another party.”
Slater’s mother, Debbie, arrived in Tenerife just before noon on Tuesday. She has since been joined by other family members.
On arrival, she was quoted by Mail Online as saying: “He’d been at a three-day festival so he would have consumed a fair bit of alcohol but Jay was Snapchatting with friends before he went missing and seemed very compos mentis.
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“I just think it was a question of him not knowing the island well enough because it was his first time here and being a bit disorientated when it came to distances.”
The UK’s Foreign Office has said it’s supporting Slater’s family and in contact with the authorities on the island.
According to Rach Louise Harg, who is posting updates on behalf of Slater’s family, searches will continue on Wednesday.
What we don’t know
We don’t know what happened to Slater in the hours after his phone battery went flat, or the physical condition he was in.
The scope of the authorities’ search is also not known, though Slater’s mother added her belief that police now have a “more precise location” of his potential whereabouts.
We also don’t know who Slater was staying with. Lucy told the Manchester Evening News she had spoken to these people but didn’t give any further information about them.
She said they had told her Slater had left their apartment at about 8am yesterday to “catch a bus”.
We don’t know i what condition the teenager was in when he went missing. Slater’s mother, Debbie, who is in Tenerife was quoted by Mail Online as saying: “He’d been at a three-day festival so he would have consumed a fair bit of alcohol but Jay was Snapchatting with friends before he went missing and seemed very compos mentis.”
Police in Tenerife are reported;y stopping motorists as part of the search this morning, according to the ‘Jay Slater missing’ Facebook group. Officers are said to have shown them a photo of Jay and asking if they have any information on his whereabouts – however this is speculation from social media and not confirmed.
As of Wednesday morning (19 June), there have been no further updates on the search for Slater.
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