Police fear Jay Slater may have accidentally fallen to his death in a remote area of Tenerife.
A body was tragically found on Monday in the search for a missing British teenager after an exhaustive four-week search.
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Apprentice bricklayer Jay went missing on the morning of June 17 after attending a rave the night before with friends – sparking a huge effort to find the Lancashire teenager.
Spanish police suspended the official search after two weeks – but announced today that a body had been found in Jay’s last known area, Masca.
A Civil Guard spokesperson said: “Initial investigations indicate that he suffered an accident/fall in the area where he was found.”
They said that the “young man’s lifeless body” was found “after 29 days of constant searches”.
“The discovery was possible thanks to the tireless and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard over these 29 days”, they added.
“Everything points to the body being that of the young British man who disappeared on June 17, awaiting full identification.”
Former investigator Mark Williams-Thomas – who has been working on the case for weeks – said: “Human remains have been found and all indications are that this is Jay Slater.
“The first investigations reveal that he could have suffered an accidental fall in an inaccessible area.”
Jay’s distraught family has been updated and a formal police investigation is set to take place.
The teenager traveled to the unforgiving mountainous region in the early hours of June 17 with two men after a night of partying.
He then left in the morning, but after learning he had missed the bus, began trying to make the 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
One of the men – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim – says Jay left the house alive.
Jay made one last frantic call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost, had one percent battery left on his phone and needed water.
In a previous call to his friend Brad, his feet might have been slipping on the rocks before.
Lucy reported Jay missing to Spanish police a few hours after the last call – triggering a massive island-wide search that would last almost two weeks.
Jay’s upset mother, Debbie Duncan, quickly rushed to Tenerife to help officers with the investigation.
She was later followed by Jay’s older brother Zak, 24, and his father Warren Slater, 58, as well as several volunteers.
The case quickly gained global attention when the family asked for help searching the mountains where Jay’s phone last rang on June 17.
Jay’s final location showed that he was near Teno Rural Park – a huge barren landscape filled with bushes and rocks.
Dozens of rescue teams and the Spanish Guardia Civil went to the mountain range using sniffer dogs, drones, a helicopter and volunteers.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money over Lucy’s disappearance from Jay Slater’s family, which has reached more than £50,000 in one month.
Debbie revealed she would be withdrawing some of the donations to take supporters to Tenerife to help with the hunt, just weeks after the search began.
But after officers were unsuccessful, the official search was called off on June 30 after two weeks.
Jay’s frustrated and heartbroken family vowed to continue the hunt no matter what.
A new team led by local hiker Juan Garcia, and including Jay’s uncle Glen Duncan, father Warren and brother Zak, focused on an area near a gorge before exploring caves, ravines and hillsides.
Experienced mountain experts who were transported by Jay’s family said the search was made difficult by the altitude, heat and size of the area.
Warren expressed similar concerns about the huge area they needed to survey.
He warned it would take “an army of 10 years” to search the entire area, while the distraught father pleaded with Interpol and British police to help.
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