Missing British teenager Jay Slater’s family has given a heartbreaking update following the news that police had called off their massive search for him.
The 19-year-old was on holiday in the Canary Islands with friends, attending a music festival, when he went missing on June 17.
The bricklaying apprentice from Lancashire was facing an 11-hour walk, having missed the bus back to where he was staying, from an Airbnb being rented by two men he reportedly met on a night out. However, Jay’s friend said the missing teen had established a friendship with the men.
With the remaining one percent of battery on his phone, he called one of the friends he was on holiday with to say he was lost, thirsty and injured.
No one has heard from him since and search parties have been scouring Rural de Teno Park, an area popular with hikers thought to be his last known location based on data provided by his phone before the battery died.
Heartbroken mother Debbie, father Warren, and brother Zak spoke to Spanish cops to make “sure the police aren’t giving up on Jay”, according to a family source.
Speaking to The Mirror while leaving the police station, Jay’s mum Debbie said: “We don’t know anything about the investigation. We’re leaving it to the police.”
She added: “Let’s keep it going, keep it alive. Let them (the police) get on with it, we’ve got to trust in these people.”
The mum and dad spent more than two hours at the police station entering at 1.53pm before leaving again at 4.30pm.
They have been in constant contact with the police after being left “blindsided” by Sunday’s decision to call off the hunt for the missing 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer after 14 days of scouring the mountains in Tenerife.
A family source told The Mirror: “The family want to be sure the police aren’t giving up on Jay. They are in constant contact with them about the case.”
Over the weekend, police in Tenerife ended their two-week-long search near the mountain village of Masca for missing Jay, which has involved sniffer dogs, a helicopter and mountain rescue experts.
TikTok sleuth and amateur mountaineer Paul Arnott has been assisting Jay’s family since the police wound down their investigation.
He told MailOnline that a pair of sunglasses similar to the ones Jay was last seen wearing had been found close to where his mobile phone last pinged.
Chris Pennington, a former soldier from Chester, found the sunglasses in some bushes near where Jay’s phone last pinged and said they looked like they’d been thrown in. They were handed to Jay’s family.
After Spanish officials called off the search, Arnott told MailOnline: “The police say they have searched everywhere but I’m not happy with that.
“If they had searched everywhere they would have found him, but they haven’t and I’m convinced he is on that mountain.”