Mother of missing teenager Jay Slater, 19, 'can't face' joining search (2024)

A missing British teenager posted a Snapchat picture just one hour before phoning his friend to say he was lost in a national park in Tenerife, it has emerged.

Jay Slater an apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, left his friends on a night out after attending the NRG music festival in the southern part of the island.

The 19-year-old - who was on his first holiday with friends - is believed to have got into a car with 'two English lads' he met in the early hours of Monday and ended up at their accommodation in a national park about 40 minutes drive away.

Panic erupted when, at around 8.50am, a disoriented Jay called his friend Lucy Mae as he tried to walk back to Playa de las Americas but was thirsty, lost and only had one per cent battery on his phone.

The call cut out and the teenager has not been seen or heard from since, but his last known location was in the remote Rural de Teno Park, a 10-hour walk from where he was staying.

Social media posts from the night before show Jay smiling in a grey t-shirt with green patches on the shoulders.

It has now emerged that Jay also posted an out of focus photo of a hand holding a cigarette at 7.30am at the property where he travelled to with the two men.

His mother, Debbie Duncan and father Warren have rushed out to Tenerife with other relatives and friends to join the search.

Ms Duncan told MailOnline:'We haven't had any real update but I'm waiting for news from the British consulate.

'There was talk of a helicopter going over the area today but I can't face going up there I'm going to stay here in Los Cristianos and wait for news.

'His friends and Lucy are up there helping and I have more family coming out today. We all just want him found safe and sound as quickly as possible.'

There at now around 15 family and friends in Tenerife searching for Jay. Among them are his mother Ms Duncan, brother Zak and father Warren Slater, who lives in Blackburn.

Local hoteliers and car hire firms helping out free of charge. The family are also being assisted by the British embassy.

Speaking from the south of the island where her son had been staying, Ms Duncan said: 'I'm obviously beside myself with worry which is why I've flown out here with my eldest son to do anything we can to help.

'We're just praying the police or someone finds Jay. I know there's a mountain rescue team out and a helicopter.

'Nothing's ever going to be enough when your youngest son's gone missing but it sounds as if the police here are taking this very seriously and doing the best job they can.'

She added: 'He'd been at a three-day festival so he would have consumed a fair bit of alcohol but Jay was snapchatting with friends before he went missing and seemed very compos mentis.

'I just think it was a question of him not knowing the island well enough because it was his first time here and being a bit disorientated when it came to distances and not realising it was a 10-hour walk from where he went missing to his holiday accommodation.

'I know the last place he spoke to his friend Lucy from was in the mountains and I think the police have got a more precise location now.'

She told the BBC her son is an'all-round nice, bubbly guy with hundreds of friends'.He's gorgeous, he's beautiful. He's my baby,' she said.

Staying at home in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, to 'hold down the fort' is Ms Duncan's partner and Jay's stepfatherAndy Watson.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Watson said: 'Who lives in the mountains? It would be wrong to speculate, but everyone has their own impression in their head.

'I wouldn't have gone off with two people I didn't know. But he's 19, he's impressionable, isn't he? If someone said there's more drink at our house, he's going to go.'

Mr Watson added: 'He has me run him down to the hairdressers, 200 yards away -why would he walk eight hours?'

He added: 'It's just all like it's not really happening. When it's in front of you on the news and his picture's looking back, it's like this is not happening.

'It happens to other people, not us. But that's not right, is it? It's not a good time at all. Having said that, nothing definite's happened, has it?'

Speaking to the M.E.N. about Jay's disappearance, scared Lucy Mae said: 'He's gone on a night out, he's gone to a friend's house, someone that he has met on holiday.

'One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he's driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.

'He's ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there.

'But then in the morning he's set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around.

'He rang me saying his phone was on 1 per cent, he said ''I don't know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die''.'

Ms Duncan previously revealed she had received prank calls from Brits with 'northern accounts' on hidden numbers claiming they had kidnapped her son and held him for ransom.

She said: 'Some of the phone calls I've been getting have been horrible. I just don't know why people would want to do things like this.

'I've been getting lots of prank calls. It's sickening. People ringing me and saying they've got Jay because he owes them money.

'But it's not putting me off and I want to keep this in the news because it's going to increase the chances of Jay being found safe and well which is obviously what we're praying for.'

Former Coronation Street star Vicky Entwistle has shared a heart-wrenching post on social media, as she prays for Jay's safe return.

Ms Entwistle, who is a close friend of the family, used her social media platform to share the missing poster of Jay which has details of his last location.

The actress who playedJanice Battersby in the ITV soap said: 'My God Mother's Grandson has gone missing. To join the police search. Hope to God they find him. Please pray for him.'

A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife said that 'everything possible' was being done to find Jay.

'A specialist Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group called the Greim have been mobilised. A police helicopter is also out and focusing on the area around the village of Masca.

'Other emergency services including firefighters have also been mobilised,' they said.

'Everything possible is being done to try to find the missing man.'

A FCDO spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.'