Jay Slater’s family give ‘extremely distressing’ update in emotional public plea
Jay Slater's family have made an emotional public plea to people intently following the investigation into his disappearance in Tenerife more than two weeks ago.
The 19-year-old has still not been found despite extensive search efforts taking place across the island and the Rural de Teno park where his phone last pinged on 17 June.
He had been visiting the holiday hotspot with his friends to attend the New Rave Generation festival before he vanished after heading back to a remote Airbnb with other partygoers who he had met at the event.
The last anyone knows of Slater's condition is what he told his pal Lucy Law in a frantic phone call explaining that he was attempting to walk back to his accommodation but had ended up in the middle of nowhere and needed water.
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Last week, the Civil Guard appealed for volunteers for a 'massive search' to be held on 29 June, hoping that firefighters and experts with experience of difficult terrain would offer their time.
However, the BBC reported that 'fewer than a dozen volunteers turned up' and that there were 'more journalists than rescue workers'.
Following the lacklustre turnout, police in Tenerife then announced that the search for Slater had been called off.
That being said, the case into the apprentice bricklayer's disappearance remains open, with a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil saying: "There are several lines of investigation."
But Slater's loved ones have urged people not to fuel social media speculation and 'conspiracy theories' which have been circulating about the teen online, explaining that the family are finding it 'extremely distressing'.
His mother, Debbie Duncan, released a new statement via the British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global to address both the press and the public, while pleading for internet sleuths to back off.
The mum, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, said of her missing son: "Jay is a normal guy who is in his 3rd year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.
"We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing.
"He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him. We do not have any information on his whereabouts. The Guardia Civil have worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay's last phone call was traced.
"They conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available."
Slater's loved ones have insisted they will continue the search for him, while Duncan said the family are now currently focusing on working out why the 19-year-old 'had travelled to the location so far away from his accommodation'.
The statement continued: "We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of enquiries.
"We would like to say to the press/news/reporters, that although we do not want to lose the momentum of Jay's disappearance, we really would like to maintain our privacy and crucially let the Spanish police get on with their investigations without hindrance from press.
"We are aware of the conspiracy theories and speculation on social media and some websites, and can only describe this as vile, the negative comments are extremely distressing to our family.
"We also embrace the love and support we have received from across the globe. It has not gone unnoticed, especially his home town in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. As a family we would like the world to respect our privacy at this present time."
Topics: Jay Slater, UK News, Parenting, World News, Conspiracy Theory
Olivia Burke