A volunteer search group has given up the hunt for Jay Slater, insisting they have not seen a penny of the money raised to help find the missing teenager.
Callum Fahim, who flew to Tenerife After contacting the 19-year-old’s mother online, she said she withdrew after two weeks of searching – and receiving death threats.
He plans to return to the UK today.
Mr Slater He was last heard from on June 17, after starting a walk back to his accommodation – a journey of around 11 hours.
Police canceled the land hunt on June 30 after 12 days, but Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, said she and her family will remain on the Spanish island.
In a statement on a GoFundMe page set up to help fund the search for his son – which has raised almost £50,000 – Duncan thanked the Spanish authorities and his supporters.
She said that part of the resources will be used to support volunteers searching for Slater on the mountain – but Fahim told Sky News he had not received any money.
Making reference to Mr. Fahim and another TikTok user who traveled to Tenerife to help, Mrs. Duncan wrote: “We are currently looking after Paul Arnett (sic), putting together a package with all the equipment and essentials he needs and going upstairs to make a delivery for him.
“We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.”
The remaining money would be used to support rescue teams, Duncan said, as well as for “his family’s own expenses whilst we remain in Tenerife looking for our son”.
Speaking to Sky News after the statement, Fahim, who is in his early twenties, insisted: “I haven’t received anything from the GoFundMe.
“We didn’t receive even a bit of the essentials paid for.
“I never received any money from them, not even offers to pick something up.
“If they had offered it, personally I would have said maybe it would be a gift later in the week, but don’t worry about it.”
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Jay Slater and his mother, Debbie Duncan. Photo: Lucy Law
Fahim, who has been in contact with Duncan through online messaging, said he and a search party, including a local hiking group, retraced all likely routes Slater may have taken.
One member of the group, Milly, who lives on the island and knows the region well, said: “My group and I live here, we don’t need accommodation.
“We didn’t get a bottle of water. We didn’t get anything and we didn’t accept it. We didn’t even get a thank you.”
Duncan’s GoFundMe statement appears to have been edited and no longer mentions Mr Fahim.
Helicopter searches for Jay Slater
Fahim, who along with Arnott is one of several TikTokers who joined the search, said he paid to fly to Tenerife.
“It’s getting very out of control. The situation here is very dangerous right now,” he said. “I’ve already received death threats.
“I had a long conversation with her [Ms Duncan] and I have decided that I am withdrawing.”
On Thursday afternoon, Duncan addressed speculation about the GoFundMe in a post in a Facebook group created to help find her son.
The message, posted by her friend, said: “For those who are more concerned about the Gofundme page, I can assure you that so far it has not been used and our stay so far has been self-funded.
“I have proof of transactions and transfers to other people, but I shouldn’t have to justify that.
“So you can make your own decisions. If any of you in this group have donated, I would be grateful.”
The hunt in the northern village of Masca, near Slater’s last known location, involved a steep rocky area, gullies and trails.
The police search was called off last week. Photo: Europa Press/AP
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Helicopters, drones and search dogs were sent to find the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, but to no avail.
Duncan wrote that although the police search – which “involved all available resources” – has ended, officers “will continue with their investigations into why Jay traveled to a location so far from his accommodation”.
Last known whereabouts of Jay Slater
Slater traveled to Tenerife with friends on June 13 to attend a music festival at Papagayo nightclub in the southern resort of Playa de las Americas on June 16.
After leaving the event, he got into his car the next morning and traveled to a small Airbnb in Masca. with two menwhich police said were “not relevant” to the case.
Map showing Jay Slater’s last known location and where his accommodation was
At 8.30am on June 17, he called his friend Lucy Law, saying he had missed the bus and tried to walk back to his accommodation.
He said he “cut off the leg” of a cactus, “had no idea where he was,” was “lost in the mountains” and that his phone battery was at “1%,” Law said. Shortly after, his battery ran out and he was reported missing at 9:04 am.
Its last known location was in the Teno Rural Park, near Masca.
The owner of a local cafe previously told Sky News that Slater tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she spoke to the teenager at 8 a.m. the day he disappeared, telling him the bus would arrive at 10 a.m. — but he started walking.
She said she later passed him “walking fast.”
‘Jay Slater asked me the bus times’
The Civil Guard last Friday called volunteers to join a new search in the Masca area on Saturday.
A handful of volunteers showed up to help rescue teams, forming a group of 30 to 40 people who searched a huge area of rugged, mountainous terrain.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
