Jay Slater search: Police make mass volunteer plea – BBC News

Police have called on volunteers to help with a large-scale search for missing British teenager Jay Slater – as a friend said he feared he had left a designated pathway.

The Spanish Guardia Civil said the search will begin in Tenerife on Saturday and called on “private volunteers” with expertise in difficult terrain to help.

Mr Slater, 19, has not been heard from since the morning of 17 June when he failed to return to his accommodation in the south of the island.

The search will focus on the ravines and trails around the village of Masca, and will start from the Mirador de la Cruz de Hilda restaurant.

Mr Slater’s last known location was in a mountainous area near the village, which is about 40 minutes drive from where he was staying.

Speaking to ITV earlier, his best friend Brad Hargreaves revealed he had spoken to Mr Slater on a video call earlier on the morning he disappeared and was left with the impression had left a pathway.

He said: “He was on the phone walking down a road and he’d gone over a little bit – not a big drop – but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring ya back, I’ll ring ya back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.

“If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again. He wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.”

Mr Hargreaves said he could see Mr Slater had gone off the path because his feet were visible walking on rocky ground.

The Guardia Civil said it was calling on specialist voluntary organisations including firefighters and civil protection teams.

A spokesman described the terrain as “a steep, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, trails and paths.”

The force added that it was also calling on members of the public to help, but only those with expertise in such conditions.

The search is due to take place from 09:00 BST.

The Spanish authorities have already deployed search dogs, helicopter crews and drones.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, was in Tenerife to attend the NRG music festival in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas.

His friends say he was seen getting into a car with two British men he met during the holiday.

He sent messages in the early hours of 17 June from an Airbnb property in Masca, which sits within the Rural de Teno national park on the north west of the island.

The Guardia Civil earlier described the search area as “huge” and said its officers and other agencies were searching “everything”.

Rachel Hargreaves, the mother of Mr Slater’s friend Brad, said family and friends were living “second by second” while the efforts continued.

On Thursday Ms Hargreaves said the intense social media speculation around the case had resulted in some people trolling the family, which had added to their “living nightmare”.