Jay Slater’s family can use their own search-and-rescue teams in the Tenerife hunt for the missing 19-year-old, Spanish police have said.
The teenager disappeared after attending a rave in Playa de las Americas which he left in the morning of June 17. He then travelled back to a £40-a-night Airbnb cottage in the remote village of Masca with two older British men.
As he tried to walk the 11 hours back to his hotel, Jay called best friend Lucy to say he was lost, in desperate need of some water and his phone battery was on 1 per cent.
Spanish police focused their search for the teenager on the mountainous village and Rural de Teno National Park in north-west Tenerife where his phone last pinged.
But on June 30, the search and rescue mission was dramatically called off after nearly 14 days, leaving his desperate family ‘in the dark’.
They previously told Sky News they were waiting for authorities to allow them to use some of the £50,000 of donations, raised through a crowdfunding page, to pay for specialist search and rescue teams.
Now the Guardia Civil has confirmed such teams can be brought in from elsewhere ‘without any problem’ to help with the hunt for the 19-year-old.
They added that the family would have to notify them ‘for good management of information and resources’ but that they had not received a request yet.
The announcement comes after Jay’s best friend broke her silence to share a new picture of the missing teenager nearly three weeks after he vanished in Tenerife.
Lucy Law, who was one of the last people to see the teenager before his disappearance, posted a picture on social media of the apprentice bricklayer, 19, who was last seen at around 8am on June 17.
The photo showed Jay and Lucy sat together posing for a selfie and was posted along with a crying face and blue heart emoji.
It comes as:
Lucy Law posted this picture on social media of the missing teenager Jay Slater nearly three weeks after he vanished in Tenerife.
Lucy (pictured) was one of the last people to hear from Jay and had gone to a festival with him the night before he disappeared
Jay (right) is pictured alongside his mother Debbie and brother Zak (left) who flew out to Tenerife after his disappearance
A map showing Jay Slater’s last known movements before he disappeared
Search crews are seen last week scouring the area where Jay is believed to have gone missing
Jay’s family have been advised to fund an independent search party after Tenerife’s Civil Guard ended their hunt for him ‘prematurely’.
Army reservist and private investigator Juan García, is among those advising Jay’s mother on how to continue with a private search.
Speaking to the Times, he said that ‘two weeks is too premature to end the search’.
‘[Slater] could be alive somewhere — someone can drink from rainwater and eat plants. The family should not give up hope,’ he said.
Jay had been attending a three day NRG festival which ended on Sunday, 16 June in Papagayo beach club in South Tenerife.
His friend Lucy- who had gone to the festival with him – said Jay had gone to stay with people he met after a night out.
She received a phone call from Jay at around 8am on Monday morning saying he’d missed his bus and was trying to walk back but was lost, needed a drink and only had 1% battery on his phone. The phone call then cut off.
The teenager’s phone died at around 8.50am, with his last known location registered in the remote Rural de Teno park, more than ten miles from the popular resort Guía de Isora.
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to the Canary Islands for a musical festival with his friend Lucy and another friend last week
Jay’s final Snapchat shows the teenager laughing and smiling at around 8.35pm on the night before he went missing
Jay was reported missing at around 9am the same morning and police launched a mountain rescue.
Mountain rescue crews and sniffer dogs had been searching the mountainous area of north-west Tenerife for the 19-year-old up until this afternoon.
But suddenly police focus shifted to the tourist hotspots of Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas in south Tenerife, after a false sighting of him getting out of a taxi.
It later emerged the report was false and police, having wasted precious time in the blistering 27C heat, were forced to move attention back to their original site.
The 19-year-old had gone back to the remote cottage in the village of Masca with two British men in the early hours of Monday morning after a rave in Playa de las Americas on June 17.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, left the £40-a-night two bedroom property called Casa Abuela Tina at 7.30am and posted two pictures from it on Snapchat.
Spanish police dramatically called off the search for Jay on Monday but said their investigation into his disappearance was ongoing.
It came as one of the British men who the missing teenager spent his final hours with claimed Jay Slater found himself at the Airbnb cottage at the centre of the mystery because as ‘all his friends left him’.
Ayub Qassim says he invited the apprentice bricklayer, 19, from Lancashire, back to his £40-a-night rented holiday cottage after a rave in Tenerife hours before he vanished on June 17.
The 31-year-old, who booked the Airbnb under the name Ayub Abdul, broke his silence, telling MailOnline: ‘He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive.’
MailOnline exclusively revealed that Qassim was jailed nine years ago for being the mastermind behind a sophisticated operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs.
Spanish police searching for Jay spoken to Qassim and the unnamed friend known only as ‘Johnny Vegas’ as part of their inquiries but concluded they were ‘irrelevant’ to the investigation.
Jay was last seen by a witness walking off in search of a bus stop close to the Airbnb at around 8am on Monday, June 17. He called a friend to say he was making the 11-hour walk back to his hotel in Playa de las Americas but has not been heard from since.
Former detective Peter Bleksley criticised Spanish police, suggesting they may be afraid a proper investigation would hit tourism on the island.
Ayub Qassim invited Jay, 19, back to his rented holiday cottage after a rave in Tenerife and says: ‘He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive’
Jay Slater, 19, went back to Qassim’s remote cottage – called Casa Abuela Tina – at 5am on the day he vanished
The £40-a-night Casa Abuela Tina holiday rental near the remote village of Masca where Jay spent his final hours before going missing
Mr Bleksley told the Sun: ‘This island is so heavily dependent upon tourism, is there reluctance on behalf of the police to actually delve as deep as they should.’
A private investigator also claimed Jay Slater could be alive somewhere ‘drinking rainwater and eating plants’ as he urged the missing teenager’s family not to give up hope.
Army reservist and private investigator Juan García, is among those advising Jay’s mother to access the £48,000 GoFundMe towards funding the private search.
Speaking to the Times, he said that ‘two weeks is too premature to end the search’.
‘[Slater] could be alive somewhere — someone can drink from rainwater and eat plants. The family should not give up hope,’ he said.
His family have been advised to fund an independent search party after Tenerife’s Civil Guard ended their hunt for him ‘prematurely’.
On Thursday, Jay Slater’s mother hit out at trolls accusing her of being ‘on holiday’ while she looks for her son in Spain as she pleaded with fellow parents to ‘continue to pray’ for his return.
The missing teenager’s family revealed earlier this week that they were planning on using GoFundMe donations to remain in Tenerife after Spanish police called off the land search 14 days after the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer first went missing.
Debbie Duncan asked for people to realise that they are a ‘normal working family from Lancashire going through hell’.
In a post on social media, she said: ‘I feel the need to post this to your group and then I shall remove myself. I joined this group to share the positivity and love from the British public.
‘It seems through no fault of my own you have all decided to make up your own minds. It is really sad I have felt the need to do this. My beautiful son Jay is still missing and believe me this is no holiday.’
Jay Slater’s mother Debbie has tonight told of her ‘pain and agony’ of her son’s disappearance in Tenerife as she pleaded that ‘we just want to find him’
Jay’s father Warren and brother Zak today hiked through the mountain track where Jay’s phone was last located
The £40-a-night Casa Abuela Tina holiday rental near the remote village of Masca where Jay spent his final hours before going missing
‘He came on his first holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG music event. What mystery surrounding his disappearance may never surface. We as a family are truly devastated,’ she continued.
‘I did not ask for publicity from the start and was not aware that the first missing poster had my telephone number on it. It should have had the SOS Guardia Civil but like I say this was out of my control.
‘Whatever decision you have in your minds I cannot control this either. We are a normal working family from Lancashire going through hell. I would like to thank the genuine people for their love and support at this difficult time and to continue to pray for Jay to be found.
‘For those of you who are more concerned around the Gofundme page I can assure you that up to now it has not been used and our stay up to now has been financed by ourselves.
‘I do have proof of transactions and transfers to other persons but I should not have to justify this. So you can make up your own minds. If any of you in this group have donated I am thankful For the other mothers out there. Please continue to pray.’
As the family work with private investigators to track down the missing 19-year-old, Ms Duncan assured donors the £48,000 or so raised on GoFundMe would be put towards funding more volunteers continuing the search through the remote mountainous area in Tenerife.
This includes providing accommodation, funds and equipment to two TikTok sleuths, Paul Arnott and Callum Fahim, who flew out to help find clues into the teenagers disappearance.
In a statement shared yesterday afternoon she wrote: ‘Your generosity has been vast, and we are so grateful for all of your support and kindness during this unimaginable time for our family.
‘We will continue to use part of the funds to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay.
‘We are currently looking after Paul Arnett, putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him.
‘We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.
‘The remaining funds will continue to be used to support the rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay as well as our own expenses as we remain in Tenerife looking for our boy.’
However, a bitter war of words between Callum Fahim and Jay’s family and friends erupted after the NHS worker said he was leaving Tenerife after two weeks of searching because of ‘death threats’.
On Thursday night he posted a TikTok live of himself from Tenerife airport saying he was ‘heading home’ to see his family and have some ‘fried chicken’ and he appeared to have a cold as he sniffed constantly.
In a statement Debbie had thanked Callum and TikTok climber Paul Arnott, 29, for their help and said they would be supporting both of them – specifically paying for ‘Callum’s accommodation and essentials’.
The bitter war of words between Callum Fahim (pictured) and Jay’s family and friends erupted after the NHS worker said he was leaving Tenerife after two weeks of searching because of ‘death threats’
In a lengthy rant on TikTok, Callum said he had received no money from the GoFundMe Page and added that he had ‘paid for his own bus tickets’ to go to the search site
However in a lengthy rant on TikTok Callum said he had received no money from the GoFundMe Page and added that he had ‘paid for his own bus tickets’ to go to the search site at Masca each day.
He added: ‘I can confirm that non (sic) of my essentials and non (sic) of my group’s essentials have been paid. However she did contribute towards a hotel and flight.’
Callum’s name was later removed from the statement on the GoFundMe page and a statement was posted on Facebook by Debbie’s friend addressing the row and showing a £740 bank transfer to Callum.
The statement read: ‘Hi sorry again people but this is just not how this should be but I need to put this out there.
‘We have someone claiming to not have had any support from Debbie and are now talking about the family at a time like this making all the speculations worse on social media.
‘It’s not fair why are people adding more stress to this devastating situation no one knows how bad this affecting everyone it’s cruel.
A GoFundMe page set up since Jay vanished on June 17 has raised nearly £50,000
Jay’s mother posted her latest update earlier this week in which she said the funds were being used to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay
The row started on Wednesday night when Debbie Duncan, 55, posted an update on the GoFundMe page set up for Jay
‘I just wanna share this now because it’s not true and it’s not fair.
‘Go Fund wasn’t paid it was paid through Debbie herself but he agreed for this to be added the go fund to show people who have kindly donated where and what the funds was being used on.
‘So this is just the evidence on that £740 was sent directly to them accommodation is essential and is classed as that.. we asked also and thanked them and we still thank you for all your help.
‘Please share and to the people who are being so kind we don’t have a update the investigation is still ongoing.’
