As the search for Jay Slater enters its fourth day, images of rescue efforts are circulating on social media.
Jay disappeared on the island of Tenerife on Monday, June 17, while vacationing with friends and attending the NRG music festival.
His friend Lucy last heard from him around 8:15AM that morning after he called her saying he was thirsty, lost, and was trying to walk back to their accommodation after missing a bus - a journey expected to take about 10 hours on foot.
His phone's last location was tracked to the Rural de Teno Park near the village of Masca, a popular hiking area.
As of this morning (Thursday), Jay remains missing. His mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew to Tenerife, described the situation as "an absolute living nightmare."
New images have been released showing emergency crews intensifying their search for 19-year-old Jay Slater, who has been missing in Tenerife since Monday. The photos were shared on Facebook by the Bomberos Voluntarios de Santiago del Teide, the local volunteer firemen.
Their post detailed the ongoing search efforts: "On Tuesday morning, at 2:17 a.m. we are given a notice to search for the missing young man in Masca.
"A vehicle and personnel were dispatched to the site and together with firefighters based in Icod and officers from the civil guard of the mountain rescue team carried out a search in the area of the Ilda Mirador."
"Yesterday Wednesday at 14:38 we were activated to continue with the search for the young man, moving 4 vehicles with 16 firefighters together with local police, firefighters from Guia de Isora, mountain civil guard, Guardia Civil unit of civil guard dogs, family and friends of the young man."
The photos show crews equipped with helmets, working in the rugged mountainous terrain to locate Jay.
The volunteer firefighters confirmed collaboration with police, the mountain civil guard, the dog unit, and Jay’s family and friends to search the extensive area.
A Facebook page has been set up where people relay any new information regarding Jay, as people use social media to help with the rescue efforts.
Adding to the distress, Debbie received a menacing Snapchat message claiming Jay owed the sender "a lot of money".
She said: "I got a Snapchat about ten minutes after I got off the plane saying ‘Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.’
"I passed it on to the police with the number it came from because I had my wits about me at the time and got my eldest son Zac to take a screen grab before it disappeared."
Lucy now believes Jay has been taken against his will.
A worker at the Masca visitor center, which manages reservations for nearby hikes, commented on the area's difficulty, via the Mirror: "If you get off the trails that are official it can be risky as you may not know where you are walking. Usually, only locals go there because they know the ways—but if you’re not from here it can be dangerous."
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
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