A missing British teenager posted a picture at the house of “two English lads” just an hour before vanishing in Tenerife.
Jay Slater flew from Lancashire to the Canary Islands for a music festival when he disappeared after he went to stay with people he met during a night out on Sunday.
During his final call to his friend Lucy at 8am local time on Monday, the 19-year-old said his phone had only one per cent battery, he was thirsty and he did not know where he was.
His last location shows the Rural de Teno Park – an area popular among hikers. He has not been seen since.
It has now emerged that Slater posted a photo on his Snapchat account of a hand holding a cigarette at 7.30pm, just an hour before phoning his friend Lucy.
In the photo, seen by The Daily Mail, the person holding the cigarette appears to be wearing a long floral robe or dress. Their face cannot be seen in it. The location is tagged as Parque Rural De Teno.
A mass search and rescue operation is underway in the area where the teenager was last seen.
Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew out to Tenerife, after being told by police that it was the “best thing to do”.
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Her partner of 11 years, Andy Watson said officers from Lancashire Constabulary visited their home in Oswaldtwistle during the early hours of the morning.
“It was about 2.30am in the early hours,” Watson told LancsLive.
“When the police said ‘the best thing you can do is get yourself out there’ we knew it was bad.
“This was his first holiday on his own. I’m just hoping he’s gone to another party.”
Duncan, who has been staying on the south of the island, where her son had been holidaying, told The Daily Mail: “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 has revealed that she has been receiving cruel prank calls from fraudsters who have set up bogus GoFundMe pages to profit off of her son’s disappearance.
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.”
The teenager’s family have begged people not to donate to the fake pages set up by trolls – which have since been deleted.
