The search for 19-year-old Jay Slater has a “surprising” element to it, Canarian Weekly Editor Chris Elkington has stated on GB News.
The search has entered its fourth day after the missing teen told a friend on Monday morning he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take 11 hours on foot.
Elkington told GB News’s Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce that Slater heading out with a lack of phone battery and water was “strange”, given he is said to have stayed with people overnight who he had met at the local NRG Festival.
“What is surprising is, he would have gone to this place in the early hours of Monday morning and then left shortly afterwards without any phone signal, without any water and without any offer of being taken back or taken to the local town or bus stop”, he said.
Chris Elkington has pointed out a 'very strange' element of the search for Jay Slater
GB NEWS / LUCY LAW
“It’s a very strange one. If you put the route into your phone, it takes you around the opposite way of the island.
“That’s why he is walking towards the rural park, not towards where he is staying.
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Chris Elkington joined Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner on GB News
GB NEWS
“The concern is, he has gone off route. It’s an area that is very barren and dry and with temperatures in the high 20s, if you go off route, you can easily get lost or trip and fall.
“It’s a very concerning situation for all concerned.”
Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife on Tuesday to search for her son, who is an apprentice bricklayer.
Duncan told ITV News: “It’s just a nightmare, it’s an absolute living nightmare.
Jay Slater told a friend in his last phone call that his phone had only one per cent battery and he did not know where he wasGetty“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.”
Describing her son, she said: “He’s the life and soul, he’s a beautiful boy.”
Slater’s friend Lucy – who went to the island with him to attend the festival – told the Manchester Evening News (MEN) that he had gone to stay with people he had met on holiday after a night out.
She said she had received a call from Slater at around 8.15am on Monday after he missed the bus and was trying to walk back although he said he was lost, needed a drink of water and had only one per cent battery on his phone.
Slater’s phone then cut off, with his last location showing as the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous area popular with hikers.