Jay Slater’s family has been granted permission by Tenerife police to bring in their own search-and-rescue teams to continue looking for the missing 19-year-old. Slater was last heard from on June 17, after he set off on an 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
Although the official land search was called off by Spanish authorities on June 30, Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, and her family have decided to stay on the island to keep searching for him. They plan to use some of the £50,000 raised through crowdfunding to hire specialist search teams.
The Guardia Civil has confirmed that external search teams can assist “without any problem” but must notify them for coordination purposes. However, no official request has been made yet.
The family had a disagreement with TikToker Callum Fahim, who had traveled to Tenerife to help but later withdrew after receiving death threats. Fahim claimed he hadn’t received any funds from the GoFundMe page, contrary to a family statement. Slater’s family clarified that Ms. Duncan had personally given Fahim £740 for accommodation but declined to provide more, leading to tensions.
In addition, another TikToker, Paul Arnott, mentioned that Scottish Mountain Rescue teams were willing to help but needed permission from Police Scotland. However, the charity indicated that such requests must be formally made through the police, and the teams would have to manage and fund their efforts independently.
The search in the northern village of Masca, near Slater’s last-known location, included steep rocky areas, ravines, and trails. Despite deploying helicopters, drones, and search dogs, there has been no success in locating the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.
Slater traveled to Tenerife on June 13 with friends to attend a music festival. On June 17, he called his friend Lucy Law, explaining that he missed his bus and was trying to walk back to his accommodation. He mentioned injuring his leg on a cactus and being lost in the mountains with a nearly dead phone battery. After this call, his phone died, and he was reported missing shortly after.
His last known location was in the Rural de Teno Park, near Masca. A local café owner, Ofelia Medina Hernandez, reported seeing Slater on the morning of his disappearance. She informed him about a bus but saw him walking fast later.
The Civil Guard recently called for volunteers to join a new search in the Masca area, which attracted a group of 30 to 40 people to scour the challenging terrain.
