Jay Slater ‘last sighting’ in Tenerife shared by teenager’s desperate family

A blurry image of a young man walking past a church has been shared by family and friends of missing Jay Slater.

The search for the 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, is now entering a second week after Jay went missing while on holiday with friends. He was reported missing last Monday on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

According to the MEN, Jay’s “possible sighting” was in the village of Santiago del Teide – which is about 7km from Masca, where he allegedly stayed in an Airbnb with two people he met at the NRG music festival . He is said to have gone alone to a mountainous area in the Rural Park of Teno, near Masca.

Read more: Criminals jailed on Merseyside this week

Read more: Her neighbors didn’t know what she was planning when they stayed in their house

Urgent searches, involving Civil Guard officers, firefighters and rescue workers, have been underway in the vast area since his disappearance. His family and friends said the image appeared to show a man walking past a church in the village at around 6pm on Monday – around ten hours after he was apparently last heard from. They believe the blurred image may resemble Jay.

Gardai have not yet confirmed the sighting is under investigation, but family friend Rachel Hargreaves said police were looking into “all leads”. Speaking from the village of Santiago del Teide yesterday, Jay’s father Warren said: ‘Do you think anyone has got him? Because whether you were drunk or whatever, you don’t go off that high road.

“And there are people up there … you don’t go on that road for more than 20 minutes without someone stopping you or walking past you. I knew right from the moment I went up there that he wouldn’t leave (that’s why He’s not stupid When I saw the police I asked them, seriously, ‘are you going to get off that road?’ and I think it woke them up little bit.

“It started as a boy who was walking and got lost, or fell. But it doesn’t make sense. No one would go off that road. Why would he go up the hill? Is it dangerous; it is a massive mountain. It’s not just a hill. I’ve noticed that people who go out to party don’t come here.

Yesterday, the fundraiser organized by Jay’s friend Lucy hit its £30,000 target. The page was created three days ago and was “family approved”. A post about the fundraiser yesterday said: “We haven’t withdrawn any funds yet and are currently covering expenses such as travel to Tenerife and accommodation ourselves. Funds will remain on hold at GoFundMe until we post a further update on this. page.”

Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan said she has “not slept” since the 19-year-old disappeared. She said she did not know if the Spanish authorities had rejected an offer of help from the UK because they considered it “an insult”.

Asked how the family was dealing with the situation, Ms Duncan said: “No. I’m not doing well at all. I haven’t slept, I’m exhausted. It was awful. I can not give. up on it, I just can’t.”

Yesterday (Sunday) marked the seventh day of a grueling search which saw drones, helicopters, fire crews and search dogs alongside mountain rescue teams deployed in a desperate bid to locate him. Throughout Sunday morning, search teams trying to find the British teenager also scaled back their efforts on a small shack near the area where Jay’s phone is said to have last “went off”.

Emergency workers concentrated their search on an area of ​​30 kilometers in the hope of finding the apprentice bricklayer, focusing on three different areas – Masca Gorge, La Vica and Las Portelas, as well as the surrounding area of ​​Masca.

Don’t miss the biggest and breaking stories by subscribing to the Echo Daily newsletter here

Receive newsletters with the biggest and latest TV and showbiz news registration here