Rescuers believe they have found body of missing Jay Slater

World

Rescue workers searching for missing British teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife have found a body and are trying to identify it, Spanish police have told Sky News.

“Evidence strongly suggests” the remains are those of the 19-year-old, officers added.

Police said in a statement: “The mountain rescue and intervention group of the Civil Guard has located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search.

“Given the complexity of the case, the discovery has been possible thanks to the incessant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard during these 29 days, in which the natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with curious onlookers.

“All indications indicate that it could be the young British man who has been missing since June 17 in the absence of full identification.

“The first investigations reveal that he could have suffered an accident fall in the inaccessible area where he was found.

“We are awaiting the results of the autopsy.”

Canarias Radio reported the Civil Guard had found a body in the village of Masca.

“All indications point to it being Jay Slater, the young British man who disappeared on 17 June in Tenerife,” the station posted on X.

“The first investigations point to an accident or fall in the area,” it added.

Mr Slater was last heard from after setting off to walk from a northern area of the island back to his holiday accommodation in the south – a journey of about 11 hours.

He flew out to the Spanish island with friends on 13 June to attend a music festival at Papagayo nightclub in the southern resort of Playa de las Americas three days later.

At 8.30am on 17 June he called his friend Lucy Law, telling her he had missed a bus, his phone battery was on 1%, and he had cut his leg on a cactus.

On Sunday his mother, Debbie Duncan, said the family “cannot put into words” the heartache they have been through.

She said her son was “loved by everyone and has a close bond with his family and many, many friends”.

Ms Duncan described her boy as a “loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend to so many”.

She also said that certain comments online were “very distressing for us all to read”.

Ms Duncan added: “We are aware of the awful comments and conspiracy theories that are filling social media.

“These theories are hindering the people trying to help us in their investigations here in Tenerife and are vile to see as a family.”

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