Jay Slater missing in Tenerife: Live updates as search teams discover body believed to be missing 19-year-old
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While formal identification has not yet taken place, the remains were found with the 19-year-old’s clothes and possessions near his last known location.
Members of a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard discovered the body near the village of Masca today.
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Hide Ad“We are saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater,” announced LBT Global, a charity which supports the families of British people missing overseas.
A spokesperson for the group said: “It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
“Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes.
“A post-mortem examination and forensic enquiries will follow.
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Hide Ad“LBT Global are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.”
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Tenerife’s Guardia Civil said on Monday that officers are waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination to confirm that Mr Slater died as a result of an accident.
The force added that Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, could have fallen in the steep and inaccessible area where his remains were discovered.
The 19-year-old had attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance on June 17, and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island, which was about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.
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Hide AdHe had travelled to an Airbnb in Masca rented by two men he met on a night out, but the pair were later ruled “not relevant” to the case.
His family endured conspiracy theories and “awful comments” posted online during the search for the apprentice bricklayer, while supporters raised £50,000 to help fund the hunt for the teenager.
Spanish police called off the search for the apprentice bricklayer at the end of June after helicopters, drones and search dogs failed to find him.
But in its statement on Monday, the force said teams had never stopped searching for the missing teenager.
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Hide Ad“The discovery was possible thanks to the incessant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard during these 29 days, in which the natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with onlookers,” its statement read.
You can find the latest updates on the investigation into Jay Slater’s disappearance in our live blog...
LIVE: Body found in search for missing Jay Slater, 19, in Tenerife
Key Events
- Jay Slater search teams discover body believed to be missing 19-year-old
- Police in Tenerife searching for missing Oswaldtwistle teen Jay Slater issue statement
- A huge group of family and friends from Oswaldtwistle head to Tenerife to help the search
- Mother of missing Lancashire-born Jay Slater issues desperate plea to son: "We just need you home"
- Snapchat video shows Jay smiling and laughing night before
- Full timeline of Jay's disappearance
Search for Jay Slater enters 14th day
Good morning and welcome back to our live blog.
We’ll be bringing you the latest updates as the search for missing Jay Slater has gone on for two weeks now in Tenerife.
Friend of missing Lancashire teenager Jay Slater heard him 'sliding off gravel' during phone call
A close pal of missing Lancashire teenager Jay Slater has told how he heard him sliding off gravel just before he disappeared in a mountainous area of Tenerife.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, has not been heard from since the morning of June 17, after he told a friend he was lost in the mountains after missing a bus and only had 1% battery on his phone.
Expert volunteers are going to join police in Tenerife today in 'massive search' for Jay Slater
A Europe-wide appeal was made by Guardia Civil yesterday calling for help for a ‘massive search’ set to get underway today.
Guardia Civil call on expert volunteers to join search in Tenerife for missing Jay Slater from Oswaldtwistle
Police searching for missing teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife are appealing for expert volunteers to help with a “massive search” on Saturday.
Spanish police verdict on Jay being found alive after 12 days in mountains
Police searching for missing Jay Slater in Tenerife say it is ‘very unlikely’ he will be found alive after 12 days, if he got lost in the mountains. The Civil Guard are pressing ahead with their search but have yet to find any clues to explain the disappearance of the missing 19-year-old from Lancashire.
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And the force appears less confident of finding him alive with each day that passes without any leads, saying it is now ‘very unlikely’ if he was lost in the mountains - a devastating blow to Jay’s family and friends who remain in Tenerife, desperately waiting for answers.
Local's warning over missing tourists
A local in Tenerife has issued a stark and grim warning as the search for Jay continues.
The woman said people go missing in the Tenerife mountains "every summer" and it can take "months" for police to find anything.
She told The Independent:
“We often have hikers go missing, every summer it is the same. Police come for a week and search and then they go – sometimes it can take months for a body to be found as the mountains are too difficult to search."
David Cameron: "I am thinking of the family and this young man"
Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron, spoke out about Jay's disappearance on an election visit to Lancashire yesterday.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire:
“I am absolutely across this. One of the most important jobs the Foreign Secretary has is to make sure we give consular assistance anywhere in the world to British citizens who are in trouble.
“Obviously I am thinking of and worrying about the family and this young man. Consular officials are there in Tenerife talking to the family, talking to the local authorities there and desperately keen that we make progress and find out what’s happened.”
Searches focussed on caves in new area of national park
Yesterday’s search efforts reportedly focussed on caves close to a ravine in a new area of the remote Rural de Teno National Park where Jay's phone last pinged.
Search for Jay Slater enters 12th day
Good morning and welcome back to our live blog.
We’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the search for missing Jay Slater in Tenerife.
Private investigator learns ID of two men Jay stayed with
Speaking to reporters, former detective turned TV sleuth Mark Williams-Thomas claimed he has learned the name of one of the two men who Jay stayed with the night before disappearing.
He says he also has a picture of the other man. He said they were both described as being between 30 to 40-years-old.
Jay last spoke to his friend Lucy Law around 8am the next morning (Monday, June 17) after he had been to stay in a rental Airbnb with the two men he met the night before.
Jay said the apartment was 'in the middle of nowhere' and he was planning to walk back to his own accommodation - an 11-hour journey on foot.
His phone later ran out of battery and he has not been seen or heard from since.
Jay's mum gives update on £36k GoFundMe as she withdraws funds
Jay Slater’s mum has provided an update on the £36,000 raised on GoFundMe as she seeks to withdraw some of the cash, and explains how the funds will be used to help search for her son.
Debbie Duncan posted the update on the crowdfunding site this morning, as she thanked the 3,300 people who have donated to the fundraiser.
She says she wants to withdraw ‘part of the funds’ to help with the ongoing search in Tenerife where her 19-year-old disappeared 11 days ago.
Debbie says she is in talks with GoFundMe to release some of the cash, but didn’t say how much of the £36,000 she would like handed over.
Mayor refutes CCTV sighting: 'He's not here'
The Mayor of the town in Tenerife where Jay Slater was potentially sighted on CCTV cameras, Santiago del Tiede, said he does not believe the missing teenager ever made it there.
Speaking to journalists, he told them, "He's not here."
Mayor Emilio Navarro told the Independent: “The Guardia Civil sent us an email asking for our security cameras. We could not give it to them as they are organised through a separate company, so the police are speaking to them.
"But that CCTV picture is not from us and I do not recognise that place - I do not think it is in Santiago del Tiede and he is not here.
“We will help the police but it makes no sense. We have had family and journalists here but we have seen no police.”
Drones join search for Jay
Drones were deployed to the Rural de Teno National Park yesterday, as searches continued at the site where Jay’s phone last pinged.
The Civil Guard said they were carrying out ""repeated hunts through ravines, roads, and trails of rugged terrain."
The Civil Guard, Canary Islands government and local police are all involved in the search efforts.
Jay's mum says family "in a living nightmare"
Jay's mum Debbie Duncan told Sky News her family were in a “living nightmare” as she asked people to pray for her missing son.
"I have every faith in them down on the ground and the amazing searches they are carrying out along with more amazing guys up there.
"As a family we are in a living nightmare. We have no further updates other than Jay is still missing and we are just ignoring the social media side of things."
Search for missing Jay enters 11th day
Welcome back. We’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the search for Jay Slater in Tenerife today...
Jay Slater reportedly ‘spotted watching the Euros’ by locals whilst missing in Tenerife
The mayor of a town near Jay Slater’s last known location has claimed that the missing teenager may have been seen watching Euros matches.
Jay, who had gone on holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG music festival, was last heard from on Monday morning last week.
According to The Mirror, Mayor Emilio Jose Navarro said some locals who reported sightings of Jay have already been interviewed by police, including a few who think they may have seen Jay on the coast watching Euros matches.
Jay's family previously shared a grainy CCTV image that shows a possible sighting of Jay in the same town.
Why did Jay did not get on the bus?
Police are probing why Jay chose to walk alone through the mountains instead of waiting for a bus on the morning he vanished.
Jay reportedly decided against waiting two hours for the next bus that would have taken him back into town. Airbnb owner Ophelia Hernandez said she saw the teenager at around 8am standing by a bus stop just outside of the village of Masca. She said he had asked her about buses back to Los Cristianos and that she told him it would arrive at 10am.
Instead, it is claimed he then walked uphill further north of the island along the only road in the area and told his friend he would attempt the walk back to the apartment. This trek would take around 11 hours and is over 30km.
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