A Tenerife mayor has insisted police are continuing to investigate multiple lines of inquiry and defended the decision to call off the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater.
“The investigation that the Civil Guard is carrying out in this case has several lines of investigation open,” local mayor Emilio Navarro told Sky News.
“It’s not that the search has stopped. Maybe yes, in the territory, the field search, but other lines are open.”
The Civil Guard announced on Sunday the search in the mountainous area of northern Tenerife where Jay was last seen had finished.
Less than two weeks after the teenager’s disappearance.
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Teno Rural National Park was the focus of the hunt for Jay after he traveled to a nearby village with two British men following a night out.
His phone was last located in the area the following morning, Monday, June 17. He called a friend to say his cell phone was about to run out of battery.
Navarro, mayor of Santiago Del Teide, defended the police against accusations that the search was stopped too soon, telling Sky News that “a magnificent job was done by the Civil Guard”.
“Until last week, a lot of resources were allocated to the search,” he added.
The slopes of a steep valley, where part of the search was carried out
He also denied the search had been hampered by online conspiracy theories about the Lancashire teenager’s disappearance.
“I believe that in this case the Civil Guard is very professional and does not deviate from the investigation and what it has is very clear and verified”, insisted Navarro.
Jay’s family, who traveled to Tenerife, intend to stay and wait to find out what the authorities intend to do now that the active search has ended.
The Civil Guard provided little information about its investigations.
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However, they have confirmed that they do not consider the two Brits Jay stayed with the night before he disappeared as relevant to the investigation.
British climber and social media personality Paul Arnott was once again surveying the mountainous terrain on Monday.
He promised to continue and called for the last police search for Saturday – which included a call for volunteers to join the professionals -. a “public relations coup”.
However, police said that although the active search phase has ended, the investigation into the disappearance continues.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
