The last person to speak to missing 19-year-old Jay Slater has hit out at rescue efforts from Tenerife authorities.
On Monday, Jay - from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, UK - was reported missing after failing to return to his vacation accommodation he was sharing with friends. They were visiting the Spanish island as part of the NRG music festival.
The night prior, the teenager had been on a night out with close friend Lucy Mae Law. However, rather than return to their shared apartment, Jay opted to stay out with people he had met that evening.
At 8:15AM the next morning, Jay made a desperate call to Lucy Mae, telling her that he was lost, thirsty, and his phone battery was critically low.
"He rang me at about 8 o’clock in the morning saying his phone was on 1 percent, he said ‘I don’t know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die,'" Lucy Mae told the Manchester Evening News.
Jay apparently told Lucy Mae that he was going to attempt the roughly 10-hour walk back to the accommodation, before going missing in the mountainous area around Rural de Teno Park.
Now, Lucy Mae - who reported Jay missing shortly after their last phone call on Monday morning - has hit out at the search efforts of the local authorities.
Speaking to The Independent, Lucy Mae said: "The police are not doing everything they can.
“It’s been longer than 72 hours now and there isn’t enough going on. They are still asking the same questions that should have been logged at 10:00AM on Monday when I first reported this."
"We need British police here," Lucy Mae added in an interview with the Mirror. "I just want to find my mate. He’s been missing three days. It’s not looking good now. We feel as though it’s down to us to find him and that we’re doing more than the police.
"The police here don’t speak English and don’t even have a translator after three days. I feel like they’re fobbing me off. They’re still asking me the same questions as when I first reported Jay missing.”
Lucy Mae has also told the UK Tonight show on Sky News that Jay had apparently suffered a cut to his leg. She told the show that Jay "didn't know where he was", that he "needed a drink", and had "cut his leg on a cactus".
The devoted and concerned friend has been one of Jay's most outspoken loved ones as the search for the teen continues.
Following search efforts being directed to another area of the island on Wednesday - a decision that was made due to a false sighting - Lucy Mae shared her concerns that something sinister may have happened to her friend.
She said: “Someone has given a false lead to the police saying he’s rang a taxi down to Los Cristianos. If this was the case he would have rang his mum or one of us. I know him well and he would NOT have us worrying."
“Someone is trying to deter the police from him being up there," Lucy Mae added. "I’m starting to think he’s been kidnapped.”
When once again asked if she genuinely believed her claim was the reason for the change in search location, Lucy Mae doubled down: "Yes, This is really serious."
In her interview with Sky News, Lucy Mae revealed that she had visited the house where Jay was apparently hanging out before disappearing on Monday morning.
"We managed to find the house," she said. "I knocked on the door and there were two people there."
The people inside allegedly told the concerned friend that Jay had gone out for a cigarette before telling them that he was going to head back to the accommodation. "They told me he'd spoken to the next-door neighbors and they'd told him there was a bus every 10 minutes back down to Los Cristianos," she said.
"The bus stop was right next to the house. So obviously if he'd gone to get the bus he wouldn't have got lost because it [the stop] was visible from the front door."
As of this writing, Jay Slater is yet to be found.
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