Jay Slater police draft in new 'specialised agents' as search dogs from Spanish mainland join hunt

Jay Slater and rescue teams

Specialised police dogs from Madrid have been called in to help search for missing Jay Slater who vanished nine days ago

PA
Georgina Cutler

By Georgina Cutler


Published: 25/06/2024

- 16:24

Mountain rescuers and the 19-year-old's family have been searching for the teenager since last Monday

Specialised police dogs from Madrid have been called in to help search for missing Jay Slater who vanished nine days ago.

The 19-year-old travelled to an Airbnb in the village of Masca with people he met at the NRG musical festival on Sunday, June 16.


The apprentice bricklayer spoke to his friend Lucy Law at 8am local time last Monday to say he had missed his bus, his phone had just one per cent battery and he would walk home instead.

His last known location was in the mountainous Rural de Teno Park - an area popular among hikers.

Police dogs in Tenerife

Canine Guides of the Civil Guard and their canine agents specialised in the search for people have been dispatched from Madrid to aid the search

PA

Mountain rescuers and Slater's family have been searching for the teenager since Monday, June 17.

Canine Guides of the Civil Guard and their canine agents specialised in the search for people have been dispatched from Madrid to aid the search.

Tenerife police said: "The Civil Guard continues with the search device for the young British man who disappeared in the Masca neighbourhood, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife), in which different units of the Civil Guard participate.

"In addition, today several Canine Guides of the Civil Guard dispatched from Madrid with their canine agents specialised in the search for people on large areas of land, belonging to the Cynological Service of the Civil Guard."

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

Slater's father Warren Slater said that while some officers had been "brilliant", he had been left frustrated at the lack of communication from others.

Yesterday, CCTV footage of a "possible sighting" of the 19-year-old was released by his family.

The image shows a male walking past a church in a town near Masca at around 6pm on Monday - 10 hours after friends reportedly last heard from him.

The Guardia Civil has not confirmed whether the image is being investigated.

Search and rescue team in TenerifeSearch teams are scouring the area with police deploying helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs to aid the searchPA

His mum Debbie Duncan also said a witness had told police they had seen her son sitting on a bench with two men, just over three miles away from the village.

However, the pair from Luton, Bedfordshire, have since returned to the UK and officers in Britain say they have no intention of speaking with them.

Urgent searches across the area continue with mountain rescue teams, local police, the Civil Guard and fire crews so far unable to locate the missing teen.

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