Authorities have extended the search for Jay Slater to different parts of the municipality the missing Brit teen was last seen in, according to reports.
Today, Civil Guard officers confirmed forest trails and tracks north of the gorge in Teno Rural Park were also now being looked at as the ongoing search expanded to other areas.
Search teams had initially been focusing on the Masca Gorge, where Jay, 19, reportedly called his friend Lucy Law and told her he was lost, with no water and just one per cent battery on his phone.
“Officers involved in the search are going over old ground in the gorge but teams are also looking at other areas such as forest trails and tracks in other parts of Buenavista del Norte”. A spokesman for the force in Tenerife said. “We’re talking about an immense area.
“We’re not going to go in every little new detail of the search or give a running commentary, but everything possible is being done to find this missing man and we continue to keep an open mind with regards to what could have happened to him.
“It remains a land and air search and hasn’t yet been extended to the sea.”
Buenavista del Norte, a town on the north west coast of Tenerife, is a 35-minute drive from Masca, where Jay stopped local resident Ofelia Medina Hernandez to ask her about bus times.
Shortly after this, Hernandez said she spotted him again walking out of the village around 15 minutes later as she drove past him on the twisting road running north.
“He was alone when I first saw him just before eight o’clock on Monday morning”, she said last week. “He asked me what time the bus went by although he didn’t tell me where he wanted to go. I told him it came at ten, and because he obviously didn’t understand, he asked me the same question again and this time I put my fingers up to indicate it was ten o’clock.
“Then I went back home briefly before starting to drive to the town of Buenavista del Norte and that’s when I saw him again, but this time walking on the road out of the village on the same side as me.
“It would have been no later than 8.10 and it was about a kilometre from where I’d seen him at the house. He was alone and he was walking quite fast. I drove past him and that’s the last time I saw him.
“I’ve given police this information and I don’t know anymore.”
Jay, an apprentice bricklayer originally from Lancashire, was heading in the opposite direction to his accommodation in the south of the island.
He had headed to Masca with two British men at the end of a three-day music festival he flew to Tenerife to attend, staying at their rented Airbnb for a couple of hours before trying to make his way back to his accomodation.
Jay was spotted at the festival in the background of a video, just hours before he vanished. He is also believed to have been captured on grainy CCTV footage nearly ten hours after last being seen in Masca, less than four miles away.
A GoFundMe has also been set up to aid in the search efforts for Jay, already having collected over £33,000.
“Thank you all for your generosity and kindness during this difficult time”, Debbie, Jay’s mother, posted on the page. “I wanted to confirm that this is the only GoFundMe fundraiser approved by our family. “We have not yet withdrawn any funds and are currently covering the expenses, such as the trip to Tenerife and accommodation, ourselves.
“The funds will remain on hold with GoFundMe until we post a further update on this page. We are extremely worried and are doing everything we can to find Jay. Please continue to share our fundraiser far and wide.
“Your support means the world to us, and we are grateful for any help you can provide. Thank you again.”
