Jay Slater: Specialist search dogs brought in to hunt for missing teenager

25 June 2024, 13:05 | Updated: 25 June 2024, 15:15

Specialist search dogs have been drafted in from the Spanish capital Madrid to help in the hunt for missing British teenager Jay Slater.

The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, was last seen in Tenerife in the morning of Monday 17 June.

Mr Slater had travelled to the northwestern mountain village of Masca after attending the NRG musical festival on Sunday night.

The apprentice bricklayer phoned a friend he had been holidaying with around 8.30am the following morning to say he was heading back to his accommodation in the southern town of Los Cristianos after missing a bus.

During the short phone call he said he would walk instead - a journey that would take 11 hours on foot and involve walking through mountainous terrain.

He also said he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.

Police, mountain rescuers and Mr Slater's family are continuing to try to find the British teenager with the search now in its ninth day.

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Tenerife police confirmed today that several dogs from Madrid would be joining the search and rescue effort.

The force said: "The Civil Guard continues with the search device for the young British man who disappeared in the Masca neighbourhood, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife), in which different units of the Civil Guard participate.

"In addition, today several Canine Guides of the Civil Guard dispatched from Madrid with their canine agents specialised in the search for people on large areas of land, belonging to the Cynological Service of the Civil Guard."

Teen was seen 'walking fast' before his disappearance

Mr Slater's mother, father and brother have all flown to Tenerife to help with the search.

His father Warren Slater said on Monday that while some officers had been "brilliant", he had been left frustrated at the lack of communication from others.

The family has also shared a blurry CCTV image of what they believe could be the missing teenager in a town near Masca around 10 hours after he was first reported missing.