Jay Slater veered off the main road and may have slid down rocks while on a phone call with his best friend as he tried to make his way back to his accommodation from the remote mountains of Tenerife.
Brad Hargreaves, who Jay was partying with at the three-day NRG music festival on the Spanish island, has spoken for the first time since his friend vanished on June 17.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has not been seen since he went back to an Airbnb near the remote village of Masca with two men after a night out on the infamous Veronicas strip in Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas resort.
He was last seen at around 8.15am walking uphill near the rugged Rural de Teno national park.
Brad and Jay’s friend Lucy Mae Law previously revealed that Jay had called her at around 8.50am ‘tired, thirsty and disorientated’ with only one per cent battery left on his phone.
But in a fresh update, Brad told how he had also spoken to Jay on the phone the morning he went missing – and detailed their last conversation, which is believed to have been a video call.
Speaking to This Morning in Tenerife, Brad said: ‘He was on the phone and he goes, ‘I’m not walking down all around that road and he’s gone over like a little… not a big drop but a tiny little drop going down there. He goes I’ll ring you back, I’ll ring you back. I think someone else was ringing him.
‘Thinking like me, he would have went back up and started walking around the path again, he wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.’
The reporter then asked him: ‘And you said you could see his feet and he was actually sort of sliding down the hill, you could hear the rocks?’
Brad replied: ‘Yeah that’s how I knew he went off the road because, you know when you walk on gravel, or whatever it is, you can… you know what I mean, stones.’
When asked whether he was concerned at the time, Brad said: ‘Not at the time because we were both, like, laughing about it. He said: ‘Look where I am”. He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he were.’
‘I said, ‘Put your location on.’ He said, ’15 minute drive, fourteen-hour walk.’ I don’t know if it’s accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi.’
Brad has been speaking as Spanish police called for an ‘army of volunteers’ to join them in a massive search tomorrow.
It comes as:
Brad Hargreaves (pictured), who Jay was partying with at the three-day NRG music festival on the Spanish island, has spoken for the first time since his friend vanished on June 17
Jay Slater, pictured with his mother, has not been seen since June 17 after he went missing following a night out in Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas resort
The apprentice bricklayer went back to the Casa Abuela Tina Airbnb (pictured) near the rugged Rural de Teno national park with two men
Jay went back to the Casa Abuela Tina Airbnb with two men he had met at the music festival. The owner of the villa said she saw Jay standing at a nearby bus stop at around 8am. He asked her when the next bus was to Los Cristianos, but when he was told it wasn’t until 10am, he set off on foot for what would have been an 11-hour walk.
In their first direct appeal for help, a spokesperson for the police today said officers were preparing a ‘coordinated large scale operation’ on Saturday.
The search will focus on the Masca gorge, around 3000ft above sea level and which has been combed by police, drones, dogs and helicopters since he was reported missing. It comes amid criticism of the Spanish for refusing an offer of help from their Lancashire counterparts last week, as the search for Jay now enters day 12.
A statement from the police HQ on Tenerife said: ‘Collaboration is requested from volunteer associations, civil protection teams, firefighters and even individuals who are experts in rugged search terrain.’
A spokesman clarified that it was not asking the ‘unexperienced’ general public to join the search.
The GoFundMe page set up to provide financial support to the family smashed through the £40,000 barrier.
It comes as it emerged ghoulish visitors on ‘Jeep safari tours’ are flocking to the Tenerife Airbnb where Jay spent his final hours before vanishing.
Although Jay only spent a matter of hours in Casa Abuela Tina, the villa once popular with hikers attempting to trek up the Teno mountains now appears to have become a tourism spot.
The road outside the two-bedroom farmhouse is packed with rental cars of British tourists and groups taking photos from Jeep ‘safari’ tours, The Times reports.
One woman, who lives in Birmingham and Spain, told the newspaper: ‘This is our second time here. I asked to drive this route because I just wanted to see it one more time. I want to get some answers.’
‘It gives me actual chills,’ she added.
The teenager’s mystery disappearance has led to a number of internet sleuths flying to Tenerife to join the search in the mountains.
Although Spanish authorities claim the case has been clouded by ‘inaccurate’ conspiracy theories on social media, Jay’s desperate family have called in the help of one TikTok sleuth – Paul Arnott.
The 29-year-old, who runs the TikTok account Down the Rapids and describes himself as an ‘explorer’, has been searching for Jay since Saturday.
He has posted more than 70 videos since, racking up millions of views as he joins police and sniffer dogs in the mountains. He said they had been focusing on two specific routes off the main road which lead to a water source.
‘I’m meeting the family today,’ Mr Arnott – who paid £400 for a flight from Fort William to Tenerife – told The Telegraph. ‘I’ve been speaking with Brad’s mum, Rachel. They wanted to bring me food but I said no. They said they wanted to meet me. They said they’re really proud of what I’m doing.’
Jay’s desperate family have called in the help of one TikTok sleuth – Paul Arnott (pictured)
Ophelia shared that Jay has also asked about catching the bus from the area before making the journey on foot – which was the only route (pictured: Casa Abuela Tina)
In its Airbnb listing Casa Abuela Tina is described as being a farmhouse within the ‘unique natural landscape’ surrounding it
It is known that Jay sent pictures of himself inside the house and from outside on Snapchat to his mum and friends
The teenager posted this Snapchat image on the morning he went missing in Spain
New pictures show apprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, lounging by the pool of the Hard Rock Hotel in Playa de las Americas with dozens of other holidaymakers before he went missing. Pictured: With friends Brandon Hodgkin and Lucy Mae Law
Dressed in camouflage style swimming trunks the picture was taken on the second day of the NRG festival at a pool party which was described on social media as ‘epic’
Also, in the picture with her back to the camera in a white skirt, is Jay’s friend Lucy Mae Law, 19, left, and it was taken on June 15 – just two days before he vanished
Holding a plastic cup in his hand (right) he appears to be standing by himself while Lucy (left) is talking to another group of boys
The last confirmed sighting of Jay Slater, above, was at about 8am last Monday by a woman who had told him the bus was due at 10am when he asked
This is the CCTV image the family of Jay Slater are hoping and praying is him – more than a week after he mysteriously vanished on Tenerife
Canary Island police officers carry out a drone search for missing Jay Slater in the Los Carrizales ravine
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan said she ‘can’t thank Paul Arnott enough’ as she also praised fellow TikTok creater Callum Rahim and his friends for helping with the search.
She said the family were ignoring the unfounded social media conspiracy theories which have threatened to derail the search.
It comes as police on Thursday started searching around caves near Los Carrizales, a new area in the Masca valley which they have not looked at before.
Two abandoned shacks where Jay’s phone last pinged have been the police’s focus so far.
MailOnline yesterday revealed new photos of Jay chatting to friends at a hotel pool party just two days before he vanished.
And on Tuesday, the investigation took a strange twist when the mayor of Tenerife revealed that police were quizzing locals who claimed they had seen Jay ‘watching the Euros’ in a bar in Puerto de Santiago – a coastal resort on the island.
Police in Tenerife say no one is talking yet about halting the search for Jay.
The Civil Guard, which has been leading the operation where the teenager was last seen, said it was continuing as normal yesterday.
Spanish police search for missing teenager Jay Slater in the Masca valley on June 26
On Thursday, a team of officers turned their attention to a new search area in the Masca valley
Police were concentrating their search on a ravine further along the national park, with caves near Los Carrizales being investigated
The Los Carrizales ravine where the search for British teenager Jay Slater is being carried out
More sniffer dogs trained in searching for people over large expanses of land were flown in from Madrid and joined the operation on Tuesday.
A Civil Guard spokesman said: ‘The Civil Guard is continuing to search for the young British man who disappeared, carrying out inspections of all the paths, trails and ravines belonging to the village of Masca within the municipality of Buenavista del Norte.’
The force also released footage showing officers moving on foot through some of the rough and remote terrain and others carrying out aerial inspections in a helicopter.
A well-placed source added: ‘No one at the moment is talking about the search being brought to an end.
‘There will be a point when the operation that is taking place at the moment has to be at least scaled back. But right now the search teams appear to have decided they want to give themselves more time.’
It comes as Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan revealed she is in talks with GoFundMe to release some of the £36,000 in donations given to an appeal in order to help finance rescue efforts and ‘living costs’ in Tenerife.
Spanish police released footage showing officers moving on foot through some of the rough and remote terrain
Others were seen carrying out aerial inspections in the Civil Guard helicopter
Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan has revealed she is in talks with GoFundMe to release some of the £36,000 in donations given to an appeal as the family continues to search for him
The GoFundMe appeal has raised more than £36,000 since it was set up by Lucy Mae Law. Debbie Duncan provided an update today
Jay called his friend Lucy Mae Law (pictured), 18, to say he was ‘lost in the mountains, with no water, one percent battery’ and he had cut his leg on a cactus
Ms Duncan, 55, said the money would be used for mountain rescue, accommodation and food expenses.
In a statement posted on GoFundMe on Thursday, she said: ‘First, I would like to thank everyone for your support, kind messages, and good wishes. It’s difficult to wrap our heads around what is happening right now, but we are not losing hope that we will find Jay and return home together.
‘We are currently working with GoFundMe to withdraw part of the funds, which are being safely held. I wanted to share that these funds will be used to support the mountain rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay.
‘Additionally, since our stay in Tenerife needs to be extended, we will also use the funds to cover accommodation and food expenses.
‘I’m surrounded by wonderful people who are by my side, but far from their loved ones, so we’ll also be using part of these funds to fly them to Tenerife so we can support each other during these dark times.
‘Thank you again for all your donations and support, this means the world to us.’
The appeal was started last week by his friend Lucy and reached its £30,000 target in just three days although some contributors have expressed concerns over where the funds will go.