Missing teen in Tenerife said he had ‘cut leg and had no idea where he was’

Undated handout photo of an appeal poster for Jay Slater, 19, who went missing during a holiday in Tenerife. Jay from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard on Monday morning as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot. Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning to search for him. Issue date: Wednesday June 19, 2024.

A British teenager who has gone missing during a holiday in Tenerife told a friend he had “cut his leg” on a cactus and had “no idea where he was” in a frantic last phone call.

Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard from on Monday morning when he called his friend, Lucy Law, after attempting to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

The walk from Rural de Teno park, his last known location, to the south of the Spanish island, would take around 11 hours on foot.

Search teams refocused their efforts on Thursday in the north of Tenerife, where Rural de Teno park is located, after discounting a potential lead in the south of the island, the BBC reported.

Ms Law said Mr Slater, who she attended NRG music festival with, called her at around 8.30am on Monday and told her he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%”.

She told Sky News that he had “cut his leg on a cactus and had no idea where he was”.

Ms Law said Mr Slater had gone to stay with people he met on Sunday night who were staying in an apartment that was “miles away from civilisation and in a very secluded location”.

She added that he had left the apartment at 8am on Monday and walked for half an hour before “frantically ringing” her.

A fundraising appeal set up by Ms Law to help search for Mr Slater, an apprentice bricklayer, has raised over £18,000.

Mountains and a road in Rural de Teno park in Tenerife, Canary Islands — When Jay Slater’s phone cut off, his last location showed as the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous area popular with hikers (Alamy/PA)

Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning, said searching for her son was “an absolute living nightmare”.

Ms Duncan told ITV News: “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. I just want my baby back.

“Please just anybody who can help – look for him. It’s a massive area up there.

“He’s out there somewhere or somebody knows where he is.”

"I wish I had said don't go."
In her first television interview, Jay Slater's mother tells @BenChapmanITV she just wants her "baby back" as the search for the missing teenager in Tenerife continues. pic.twitter.com/yJEDsDdRXw
— ITV News (@itvnews) June 19, 2024

Ms Duncan added: “I wish I hadn’t encouraged him to go to this. I should have said: ‘Don’t go to Tenerife’.

“I just think he was probably still in high spirits, buzzing – he’s not known where he is.

“He’s not known the extent of the long journey that he went on to get up there.

“And he’s just thought: ‘I’m gonna walk’. And that’s what apparently he said to the last person he contacted.”

Describing her son, Ms Duncan said: “He’s the life and soul, he’s a beautiful boy.”

Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and a black bag.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”