Jay Slater: Police say family can use their own search teams

Police in Tenerife have said Jay Slater’s family can bring in their own search-and-rescue teams to look for the missing teenager.

The 19-year-old was last heard from on 17 June after setting off on a walk back to his accommodation in Tenerife – a journey which would’ve taken about 11 hours.

Police called off the official land hunt on 30 June but Mr Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan and her family have said they will stay on the island to look for him.

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Mr Slater’s family told Sky News they want to use some of the £50,000 of donations through a crowdfunding page to pay for specialist search and rescue teams likely to cost thousands of pounds – but were waiting for permission from the authorities.

The Guardia Civil has told Sky News that search teams from other places can come “without any problem” to collaborate with the search.

They said they must notify the Guardia Civil “for good management of information and resources” and they have not yet had a request.

It comes after a row between the family and TikToker Callum Fahim, who flew to Tenerife to help look for Mr Slater but told Sky News he had quit the search after receiving death threats.

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He said he and his group have not seen a penny of the money raised on a GoFundMe page after a post from the family said he and another TikToker Paul Arnott had received support from the funds.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Slater’s family said his mother Ms Duncan gave Mr Fahim £740 of her own money for accommodation but he turned “bitter” after they refused to give him more.

“We appreciate every single person who’s come out,” they said.

“He’s a hiker. We don’t need hikers, we need experts.”

Mr Arnott said in his latest video that Scottish Mountain Rescue teams wanted to come out to join the search but needed permission from police in Scotland.

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A Scottish Mountain Rescue spokesperson said: “We recognise the incredible efforts that have gone into searching for Jay Slater by local firefighters, civil guards and mountain rescue since he went missing in Tenerife. Our hearts reach out to his family and friends during, what must be, a very difficult time.”

But the charity said all requests to attend an incident must come through Police Scotland.

Sky News understands no approach has been made by anyone formally connected to the search and if the teams wanted to go to Tenerife, they would not need permission but would need to arrange, pay for and insure themselves at their own risk and volition.

The hunt in the northern village of Masca, near Mr Slater’s last-known location, took in a steep rocky area, ravines and trails.

Helicopters, drones and search dogs were deployed to find the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, but without success.

Mr Slater travelled to Tenerife with friends on 13 June to attend a music festival at Papagayo nightclub in the southern resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June.

After he left the event, he got in a car early the next morning and travelled to a small Airbnb in Masca with two men, who police said were “not relevant” to the case.

At 8.30am on 17 June, he called his friend Lucy Law, telling her he missed his bus and had tried to walk back to his accommodation.

He said he had “cut his leg” on a cactus, had “no idea where he was”, was “lost in the mountains” and his phone battery was on 1%, Ms Law said. Shortly afterwards, his battery ran out and he was reported missing at 9.04am.

His last known location was in the Rural de Teno Park, near Masca.

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A local cafe owner previously told Sky News Mr Slater tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.

Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she spoke to the teenager at 8am on the day of his disappearance, telling him a bus was due at 10am – but he set off walking.

She said she later drove past him “walking fast”.

The Civil Guard last Friday called for volunteers to join a new search in the Masca area on Saturday.

A handful of volunteers turned up to help rescue teams, forming a group of 30 to 40 people scouring a huge area of rugged and hilly terrain

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