Friend says missing Lancashire teenager in Tenerife "didn't know where he was"

Jay Slater is still missing, having not been heard from since Monday morning

Author: Adam FawcettPublished 20th Jun 2024
Last updated 20th Jun 2024

The friend of a Lancashire teenager, missing in Tenerife, claims he contacted her not knowing where he was, and having injured his leg on a cactus.

Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, hasn't been heard from since calling his friend on Monday morning.

Lucy Law was on holiday with the 19-year-old, but had gone back to her accommodation early, having attended a music festival.

Speaking to Sky News, she said: "I woke up to a phone call, he said he had gone up to the mountains, his phone battery was on 1%, and he had no idea where he was"

Lucy says she told him to go back to where he had come from before his phone dies, so she could come and pick him up.

"He said to me 'I can't go back there, I don't know where it is'. So he has sent me a screenshot of his last location."

"The first thing I did was ring the police, and I spoke to people there. They told me they had sent a helicopter out, but later on I spoke to somebody who lived up in the mountains, and they said they hadn't heard any helicopters, and obviously if there was a helicopter out they definitely would've heard it"

Lucy says he is "not a risk taker", and she can't understand why he would come out of a house and start walking on his own.

She think he might have started walking, without realising the distance back to his accommodation.

A full search operation is being carried out on the island. Initially, focus was on the mountain areas, but the search operation is now thought to have been widened.

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."

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