As the search for Jay Slater enters its fifth day, rescuers are now focusing on a rural village and the ravine below it.
Jay, 19, from Lancashire, was on holiday with friends and attending the NRG music festival when he disappeared. His friend Lucy Mae Law last heard from him around 8:15 AM that morning.
Jay Slater wearing the shirt he is believed to have disappeared in. Credit: Instagram
During the call, Jay mentioned he was thirsty, lost, and attempting to walk back to their accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take about 10 hours on foot.
His phone's last known location was tracked to the Rural de Teno Park near the village of Masca, a popular hiking area.
Despite extensive search operations involving drones, dogs, and a helicopter, no sign of the 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire has been found.
Friends and family of Slater revealed that he got into a car with two men he met while on holiday, leaving his group in Playa de las Americas, a tourist hotspot in southern Tenerife.
Credit: Facebook
The search teams have been meticulously covering a mountain road and focusing on a ravine before moving to a valley in the village of Masca, per the BBC.
Police and mountain rescue officials have also examined a steep area behind the apartment where Slater was reportedly taken.
Investigators have been collecting bags of rubbish from the area in hopes of finding any clues, but so far, no leads have emerged.
In Oswaldtwistle, locals have been placing blue ribbons on buildings in support of Slater and his family. A prayer service was held on Thursday night at West End Methodist Church.
Callum Thorpe, a friend who has known Slater since primary school, initially thought Slater had attended an afterparty and not returned. However, as days passed, he grew increasingly worried.
"I followed it on social media and Facebook... and it's getting more and more worrying now," Thorpe said. "We all just want the best and find out what we can." The ribbons, he said, represent Slater and are meant to "turn his home town blue."
On Tuesday, Slater's mother Debbie Duncan, and older brother Zak Slater, flew to Tenerife to join the search.
The following day, the Guardia Civil in Tenerife moved the search area to the island’s south, around Los Cristianos, based on a tip-off, but later discounted the information and resumed the search in the north.
Images released by the Bomberos Voluntarios de Santiago del Teide show emergency crews intensifying their search for Jay.
Credit: Bomberos Voluntarios de Santiago del Teide
The photos, shared on Facebook, depict rescue teams working tirelessly in the rugged mountainous terrain. "On Tuesday morning, at 2:17 a.m., we received a notice to search for the missing young man in Masca," the volunteer firemen posted.
"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, we carried out a search in the area of the Ilda Mirador."
The volunteer firefighters' update continued: "Yesterday Wednesday at 14:38 we were activated to continue with the search for the young man, moving four vehicles with 16 firefighters, along 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."