LOCALS in Tenerife are gripped by the search for Jay Slater have revealed “it’s all were talking about”.
Jay, from Lancashire, has been missing for a week now with search crews failing to find any trace of him so far.
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Drones, sniffer dogs and helicopters have all been involved in the mammoth mission, with the operation now focused on three main areas near where Jay was last known to be.
Jay,19, made a final call to pal Lucy Law last Monday morning to tell her he was lost in the middle of nowhere, his phone was about to die and he needed water.
He had been to a rave the night before with pals Lucy and Brad, but left the club with two men he had met that night.
Now locals on the island have told how the drama has Tenerife gripped.
Monica, who works at Paniclub in the Playa de la Americas resort, told the M.E.N: “Everybody here is living nice and happy, so it’s very sad news. It’s horrible, horrible.
“Yesterday I was off and we were speaking the whole day about him. It’s all we are talking about, the local people. It’s everywhere in the media, it’s so sad.”
She explained how tourists fuelled the night time economy She said:
“Everybody here is looking for fun and drinks. People could go out partying and get lost here, in the night time it can be dangerous.”
Maria, who works at a hotel next door to the bar, added: “It’s breaking my heart. Especially for myself, because I have a 19-year-old son. I hope he is okay.”
The teen went back to their Airbnb in an unforgiving mountainous area near the village of Masca.
After leaving their accommodation, Jay missed the bus home on Monday morning and was faced with a tough 10-hour walk.
He has not been seen or heard from since – and dad Warren wants cops to widen the search as he believes Jay is not in the mountainous area where police are focussing their search.
Warren added: “I don’t know if anything undertoward has happened to Jay. One minute he was here, next minute he’s disappeared.
“I don’t believe he’s still in that mountain. The police have put every effort into finding him. It’s bleak and barren.
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“The authorities have done everything they can in the search, everybody is up there looking for him.”
Warren has been putting up missing person posters in the village of Santiago del Teide.
The tearful dad has also been sharing a grainy CCTV image he believes could be his son.
It shows a mystery figure walking past a church in Santiago del Teide last Monday at around 6pm – hours after Jay was reported missing.
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “nothing untoward there”
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire cops offer to help with the search but Tenerife authorities say they are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”
Search turns to 22,000ft ravine in Masca – part of an area dubbed “the badlands” by locals
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins with sniffer dogs, cops, mountain rescue and firefighters again taking to the hills in northern Tenerife
Possible new sighting of Jay places him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although unconfirmed by police
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Cops focus their search around small outbuildings in de Teno park near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
The GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy surpasses £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay appearing to fall and stumble back up at a rave before he vanished
MONDAY 24
Search for Jay enters eighth day
The village is around 7km from the Masca village Jay vanished from one week ago.
Police are yet to confirm whether as a potential sighting – but Jay’s family are praying it is.
Jay’s mum said a man had come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men in the same area.
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