A British teenager missing in Tenerife “would never leave his mother worried like this”, a friend told Sky News.
Lucy Law said 19-year-old Jay Slater was “not a stupid boy” and would have flagged down any passing car or spoken to passers-by.
Mr Slater, of Lancashire, was missing on the Spanish island since Monday morning.
His mother, a mountain rescue team and the local civil guard are searching for him after he went missing while on holiday with friends.
Law said he called her to say he “didn’t know where he was,” that he “needed a drink” and that he had “cut his leg on a cactus.”
Despite his cell phone battery being at less than 1%, he managed to send her a photo of his location.
When she told him to go back to where he left, he said he didn’t know where it was, Law said.
He was without food and water, she added, and was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “It’s very hot during the day and very cold at night,” she said.
“So during the day he will be very hot without drinking, and at night he will be very cold without proper clothing.”
Law and others printed posters in Spanish and English and stuck them “everywhere,” she said.
His phone’s last live location was in Teno Rural Park. The search is also focused on Los Cristianos
Shortly after Slater’s disappearance, an American woman offered to take Law to the mountains.
There was “literally no sign of him anywhere,” she said. “We drove all day.”
Slater posted a photo online of some mountains near a house where he had been in the mountains.
Ms Law then drove around looking for a lamp and some flowers seen in that photo.
“We were able to find the house,” she said. “I knocked on the door and there were two people there.”
They told Mrs Law that Mr Slater had gone out for a cigarette before returning and saying he wanted to go home.
Masca, Teno Rural Park, Tenerife. Photo: iStock
“They told me that he had spoken to the neighbors and that there was a bus every 10 minutes back to Los Cristianos.
“The bus stop was right next to the house. So obviously if he had gone to catch the bus he wouldn’t have gotten lost because [the stop] it was visible from the front door.”
See more information:
What we know so far about Jay Slater’s disappearance
The trip back from the mountains takes an hour by car. “Everything looks the same – it’s just a road and hills,” Law said.
“I can’t understand why he left the house and decided he was going to walk. I think he maybe started walking on battery power and didn’t realize how far he was actually walking.”
There are “so many unanswered questions,” Slater’s friend said.
Jay Slater. Photo: Lucy Law
‘He’s not a stupid boy’
“What I find strangest about this is the fact that there is no one who has seen it.
“And he’s not a stupid kid – he’s got some sense about him.
“I’ve seen so many people here and I’ve asked each and every one of them if they’ve seen him – that’s what I find strange.
“If he had seen someone, or a car, he would have flagged down the car, he would have said he needed a phone to contact someone.”
She added: “He would never make his family worry like that – he would never make us worry like that.
“If he saw someone, the first thing he would do is say ‘I need to call my mum’ – I’m sure of that. He would never make his mother worry like that.
“It’s just horrible – I’ve never been so worried in my life.
“I literally haven’t slept at all since.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
