With the search for missing Jay Slater well into its second week, a local mayor in Tenerife has clarified comments he made regarding a possible sighting of the UK teenager.
On Monday, June 17, authorities on the Spanish island were alerted to the missing teenager following a report from his friend, Lucy Mae Law.
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Jay and Lucy Mae had been visiting the Canary island as part of the NRG music festival. However, the night before his disappearance, Jay had opted to stay with two men and return to their Airbnb - rather than head back to his shared accommodation with Lucy Mae.
At around 8:00AM on June 17, Lucy Mae received a call from Jay. He was miles away in the village of Masca - situated in the Rural de Teno Park, known for its rugged terrain.
Jay informed Lucy Mae that his phone was critically low on battery, he was lost and thirsty, and that he was going to attempt to walk back to their apartment - a walk that would have taken him around 10 hours.
READ MORE: The Six Biggest Unanswered Questions About Jay Slater's Disappearance
Jay was reported missing less than an hour later by Lucy Mae. Since then, the main focus of rescuers has been on the mountainous Rural de Teno Park area.
However, investigators have also been looking into other possible sightings of Jay, including one detailed by local mayor Emilio Jose Navarro Castanedo.
In a previous interview with Reuters, Mr. Navarro Castanedo confirmed that the Civil Guard are combing through CCTV images, and had requested any footage from the town hall's security cameras.
The mayor also confirmed that police have interviewed several witnesses, some of whom believe they saw Jay on the coast watching Euro 2024 soccer matches.
The eyebrow-raising comments have led to the Mayor once again speaking out to clarify exactly what he meant by his comments.
In an interview with the MailOnline, Mr. Navarro Castanedo said: "There has been a lot of fake news and misunderstanding of what I said.
"To be clear, I did not say I saw him watching football, locals have told me that they have heard from others that they saw someone looking like the boy in a bar at Los Gigantes further along the coast.
"I have no idea if it was him, but holidaymakers of his age all dress the same and I have no idea in which bars he was seen, I don't know if the police have been there they are not telling me about their investigation.
"I know that local police have spoken to these people who said they saw him cheering in a bar watching football. I don't know when he was supposed to have been seen but it was supposedly certainly in the days after he disappeared but I have to underline this is unconfirmed information and only what I have been told."
The other possible sighting of Jay that the Mayor referred to was that of a young man who apparently resembled Jay who was seen crossing a church square in Santiago del Teide village around 6:00PM on the day Jay went missing - roughly 10 hours after his reported disappearance.
The footage came about after Jay's family revealed that somebody had "come forward" claiming they saw somebody who resembled Jay on June 17.
In a statement to the MailOnline, concerned mom Debbie said: "Someone has come forward to say they saw someone who they thought was Jay walking back down the road sat on a bench.
“He was with two men looking a bit worse for wear, and they were by a church, this guy has come forward and told the police about it and they are looking into it. We don’t know if it was Jay for sure, but it’s a start."
The village lies approximately 7km from the Airbnb where Jay spent the evening prior.
The Civil Guard in Tenerife has yet to confirm the validity of this lead as a credible possibility, but a spokesperson has said, per LBC: "Nothing has been ruled out and nothing has been ruled."
Famed UK detective and former police officer Mark Williams-Thomas has flown out to Tenerife in an effort to assist Jay's family with the ongoing search.
His decision comes after the Spanish Civil Guard denied help from Lancashire police in the UK.
During a press conference on Wednesday (June 26), Williams-Thomas shared an insight into the turmoil Jay's family is facing at this time.
"They are utterly broken," he told reporters from Tenerife. "Having done this many times and having been a family liaison officer, they are an incredibly united family.
"Not just in terms of the family but also the friends that are here to support. They are all very focused in terms of finding Jay. The problem is they are now without information, a lot of information was coming in initially but they are now without much information."