Spanish police have officially ended their search for the missing teenager Jay Slater after he went missing more than two weeks ago.
The search for the missing 19-year-old included sniffer dogs, helicopters and an army of search crews on the ground.
However, in a dramatic conclusion to the mystery that has gripped the British public, a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil said today that the search was over.
“The search operation has now finished although the case remains open,” a spokeswoman for the service said.
Jay Slater flew to the Spanish island for the NRG music festival before heading to an Airbnb in Masca with two men he met during the event.
The morning after, the apprentice bricklayer spoke to his friend Lucy Law just before 9am local time who said he had missed his bus, his phone had just one per cent battery and he would walk home instead.
Since he vanished, rampant online theories and speculation have emerged as to what may have happened to Slater.
The end to the operation comes after Spanish police called for volunteers to join a ‘large-scale’ search.
However, reports suggest that just a handful of volunteers turned up for the search.
Among the group were a British TikTok mountaineer Paul Arnott, a German couple and a few Spanish nationals.
“It’s a bit disappointing that there are no British apart from Paul but I suppose to them he’s just a British lad who’s come out here and got drunk,” Jay’s dad Walter Slater said.
“You can see just how dangerous it is and what gets me is the trollers who are having a go at us for not searching.”
He continued to say that he was “grateful” for those who did gather to help search for his son last seen on June 17.
He added: “It’s not the local park, these are big mountains, the terrain is dangerous, put yourself in our position would you go out in these conditions?
“It’s tough, it’s hard, we are leaving it to the professionals and I’m grateful for those who have turned out today and I want to thank them for what they are doing.”
Cipriano Martin, Chief of the Mountain Rescue team of the Guardia Civil
REUTERS
In an update yesterday, Cipriano Martin, Chief of the Mountain Rescue team of the Guardia Civil, said: “We have searched the Masca area, the Barranco de San Lopez area and the Barranco Retamar, Barranco de las Aneas, Barranco de Carrizales, we have searched the whole area.
“We know to a certain science that he was here because the coverage of his phone its undeniable that he was around this point.
“And that’s where we have difficulties, because once you turn off your phone, it can no longer be traced.
“So while he was walking – and we don’t know how long he could have walked for – with his phone switched off, no antenna is going to pick that up.
“And the technology we have – it traces phones, but not people. We have certain clues, and we have to stick to those.”
