Mother of lacking Brit Jay Slater ‘beside herself with fear’

The mother of a British teenager who went missing after getting lost in a Tenerife national park yesterday said she is ‘beside herself with worry’ in her first comments since touching down in the Canary Islands today.

Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to the Canary Islands for this past weekend’s ‘New Rave Generation’ (NRG) music festival with pal Lucy Mae and another friend last week. 

On Sunday night, the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer left the rave in South Tenerife with a group of people he met that day, telling Lucy he was staying with them at their apartment in an undisclosed location.

But Lucy told how she received a panicked call from Jay on Monday morning shortly after 8am in which he said his phone battery was low, he was lost – and in desperate need of water. 

His phone location showed he was in a mountainous area of a national park some 10 hours’ walk away from his accommodation – and he has not been seen since. 

Speaking from the south of the island where her son had been staying, mother Debbie said: ‘I’m obviously beside myself with worry which is why I’ve flown out here with my eldest son to do anything we can to help.

‘We’re just praying the police or someone finds Jay. I know there’s a mountain rescue team out and a helicopter.

‘Nothing’s ever going to be enough when your youngest son’s gone missing but it sounds as if the police here are taking this very seriously and doing the best job they can.’

Debbie also revealed she had received several prank calls from hidden numbers claiming they had taken her son and held him for ransom, describing the pranksters’ jokes as ‘sickening’. 

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Debbie added: ‘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.

‘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 and not realising it was a 10-hour walk from where he went missing to his holiday accommodation.

‘I know the last place he spoke to his friend Lucy from was in the mountains and I think the police have got a more precise location now.’

Debbie also told how twisted Brits with ‘northern accents’ had been phoning her with hidden numbers and claiming they had her son captive and were keeping him because he owed them money.

She said: ‘Some of the phone calls I’ve been getting have been horrible. I just don’t know why people would want to do things like this.

‘I’ve been getting lots of prank calls. It’s sickening. People ringing me and saying they’ve got Jay because he owes them money.

‘But it’s not putting me off and I want to keep this in the news because it’s going to increase the chances of Jay being found safe and well which is obviously what we’re praying for.’

On Sunday, Jay had attended the final day of a the three-day NRG festival at Papagayo Tenerife beach club in the island’s south, near to his accommodation. 

A Snapchat video shows Jay laughing and smiling around 8.35pm on the night before he went missing, Manchester Evening News reports.

In the video Jay was seen in the outfit he was last seen wearing, which consists of a light grey t-shirt with green shoulders as well as a black bag. 

After the rave he left in a rented car with new friends, Lucy told MEN. 

Lucy recounted how she received a call from a confused Jay on Monday morning some time after 8am in which told her that his phone battery was on 1 per cent, that he needed a drink of water and ‘didn’t know where he was’.

He had reportedly been trying to walk back from the apartment he had stayed at overnight, having been unable to catch a bus. 

His phone then ran flat, with his last known location registered in the ‘Rural de Teno’ park, close to the PR-TF51 hiking trail above the small village of Masca.

This is a mountainous area that is popular with hikers but very exposed and far away from heavily populated centres, and there have not yet been any reported sightings of the teen.

Police meanwhile said they were doing ‘everything they could’ to help find Jay.  

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News about Jay’s disappearance, a scared Lucy said: ‘He’s gone on a night out, he’s gone to a friend’s house, someone that he has met on holiday. 

‘One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he’s driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.

‘He’s ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there.

‘But then in the morning he’s set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around. 

‘He rang me saying his phone was on 1 per cent, he said ”I don’t know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die”.’

Temperatures in Tenerife peaked at 26 degrees C yesterday. 

Lucy said she is frantically searching for her friend on the island, having made several reports to local police in Tenerife and made contact with the British Embassy.

Meanwhile back in Oswaldtwistle, Lancs., Jay’s stepdad Andy Watson told how police officers knocked on their door in the early hours of the morning today to inform them of the teen’s predicament. 

‘It was about 2.30am in the early,’ Andy Watson, 63, told LancsLive. ‘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.’

Andy later said in an interview with the Sun: ‘It’s really worrying. It feels like a blur at the moment. 

‘Jay is very street wise 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 Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife today said the force was working hard to find Jay.

‘A specialist Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group called the Greim have been mobilised,’ she said.

‘A police helicopter is also out and focusing on the area around the village of Masca.

‘Other emergency services including firefighters have also been mobilised. Everything possible is being done to try to find the missing man.’

A worker at a visitor centre in Masca, which has a registered population of around 90 inhabitants although only about 50 live there all year round, said: ‘I’ve put the missing poster up in case anyone recognises the lad because a lot of people come through here and may have seen something that could help.

‘What I can say is that I haven’t seen him and nor have colleagues. The helicopter was up yesterday and went across several times overhead and it’s been up again this morning searching the area. But no police have been in asking questions or seeking information and this is a logical place to come.

‘Most of the people living here are elderly. There’s probably only around 50 people who live here all year round and a lot of residents are on holiday at the moment.

‘I really hope… they find him soon.

Eva Maria Gracia Herrera, mayoress of the municipality of Buenavista del Norte of which Masca forms a part, added: ‘Local police employed by the town hall are assisting but it’s the Guardia Civil that are leading this search and investigation and there’s not a lot more I can say.

‘The area they’re covering is a very large area that includes all the Teno Massif where there’s mountains. The focus area appears to be Masca and Carrizales and they’ve got drones up trying to establish why this lad might be.

‘Masca is surrounded by mountains and what might be a bit strange is why he’s ended up in the Masca area but I can’t speculate or offer any hypotheses because I haven’t got up-to-date information about the investigation.

‘We’re obviously hoping this has a happy ending. It’s not nice that a young man gets lost in our municipality and we hope he can be found soon and that he’s well and can be reunited as soon as possible with his loved ones.’

Police reportedly dispatched a mountain rescue team to the area yesterday, but they are yet to have found any trace of the missing teen. 

Lucy added that she has spoken to the people with whom Jay was staying on Sunday night. 

She said the claimed the teen had left their apartment at around 8am Monday morning to ‘catch a bus’, but gave no further information. 

‘I’ve never been so worried in my life. I was there all yesterday, a lovely lady messaged me on Facebook and said she had hired a car and would drive me up there’, Lucy added.

‘We were there all of yesterday, we were driving around looking around everywhere, looking in all the nooks and crannies.’

Jay was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with shorts and trainers. He was also believed to be carrying a black bag.

A spokesman for a regional emergency coordination centre said: ‘The Civil Guard are coordinating this operation because they’re responsible for investigations involving missing people.

‘We’re acting as support to them and they’re the ones who are asking for more resources as and when they feel they’re needed.

‘The Civil Guard is involved as well as firefighters and Civil Protection workers who have two drones.

‘Yesterday a regional government helicopter was mobilised but today it’s a Civil Guard helicopter as well as the Greim mountain specialist team.

‘The alert about this missing youngster was received at four minutes past 9am yesterday and the search began soon after and went on into the night.

‘My understanding is this man has subsequently been formally reported as missing to the police.’

A FCDO spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.’