The valley where Jay Slater died is a stark and inhospitable landscape.

A mountain road cuts across the top and then below it the steep terrain plunges down towards the sea.

It’s known as the Juan Lopez ravine and from the road it looks like there may be a footpath to the beach in the distance – but there isn’t.

The dense vegetation gets thicker and thicker before the walls of the ravine get higher and almost vertical in places.

Without specialist climbing equipment it’s almost impossible to get through.

A Dutch search team, hired by Jay Slater’s family, continued their search of the valley on Tuesday even though his body had already been recovered the day before.

Search coordinator Esther van Neerbos told Sky News: “It’s emotional – you want to do your best for the family.”

“We need to do a complete job for them,” she added as her dog, three-year-old Flex, continued his work searching the undergrowth.

The team from the Signi Zoekhonden charity said they are determined to make sure nothing is left in the valley that could help explain Jay’s death.

They have also made a short film for Jay’s mother so that the family has a record of the location.

The post-mortem examination confirmed that the multiple injuries Jay suffered were consistent with a fall from height but there are still other unanswered questions.

Firstly, why was he attempting an 11-hour walk back to his accommodation after a night out with friends that had ended in the mountain village of Masca.

The Dutch team told Sky News they thought it was likely he was trying to take a shortcut through the valley down to the sea.

Read more:
How Jay Slater was found after ’29 days of constant search’
Locals confused by discovery – as new search of area launched

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Ms Van neerbos said: “I think this was a shorter way to go back, to get to the beach”

“By the beach is his house [holiday accommodation] so probably he wanted to do that.”

“But it is impossible to go that way” she added.

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The search team vowed to stay in Tenerife this week and continue to support the family in any way they can.

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