The search for missing British teen Jay Slater has been hit by huge wildfires near the Tenerife town of Masca.
The search for the 19-year-old was officially called off over the weekend, nearly two weeks after he went missing. The Lancashire lad was reported missing in Tenerife on June 17 after he called his friend Lucy, telling her he was lost in a rural area of the island with only 1% battery left on his phone.
His last known location was half a mile north of Masca village. Despite ongoing efforts by emergency workers, including the Civil Guard, mountain rescue team and fire crews, the challenging terrain of the Rural de Teno park is proving difficult to search.
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(Image: MEN Media)
And now that search – at this point being handled and led by TikTok sleuths – could hit a further bump in the road as wildfires rage in the area near Mesca.
According to the Emergency Services Coordination Centre (CECOES), the blaze started in the Madera del Morro area, which is just a few miles from where the search for Jay Slater was taking place.
(Image: The Coordination Centre for Insular Operations Against Forest Fires (CECOPIN))
Fire officers have struggled to tackle the blaze, which is thought to span around 40 square metres of bramble bushes, with helicopters dropping water from the air needed to help.
CECOES experts have reiterated that the island – and all Canary Islands – are on pre-alert for forest fires already, with the latest fire in Tenerife adding to an already chaotic and frantic situation.
(Image: PA)
It is thought to be the second fire in the area in just three days, with thick smoke blanketing much of the area in question – making searching for anything even harder than it was already proving to be.
The unofficial search, however, continues.
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