Jay Slater‘s best friend has revealed the final conversation the pair had where it appeared the teenager had “ventured down gravelled and uneven ground”. The Lancashire apprentice bricklayer, 19, has been missing for 12 days in the Rural de Teno National Park in northern Tenerife – a 10-hour walk from where he was staying with his friends.
A huge manhunt is underway, with police and Jay’s parents frantically searching for his whereabouts. His last phonecall was to a friend where he said he was thirsty and that his phone only had one percent battery left.
He is believed to have left the NRG music festival the night before he went missing – with his last location being at a property in the rural area. In an interview with ITV’s This Morning, reporter Isla Traquair spoke to Brad, on behalf of Jay’s family.
He recalled the video call the pair had – where Jay was “walking down a road” and appeared to have stepped down into a drop. Brad said: “He was on the phone walking down a road and he’d gone over a little bit – not a big drop – but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring ya back, I’ll ring ya back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.
“If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again… He wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.”
Brad said he knew Jay had gone off-road because he could hear him “walking on gravel”. Asked whether or not he was concerned he added: “Not at the time because we were both laughing and he said, ‘Look where I am’ and I was like, ‘I’ve just come out of a festival’.
“He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, ‘Put your location on’ and he said ‘a 15 minute drive or a 14 hour walk, I don’t know if it’s accurate or not’ and I said, ‘If it’s only a 15 minute drive, get a taxi’.”
Brad recalled the emotional torture Jay’s disappearance has caused, hoping that his best pal is found. “[I hope] that he comes home. That someone brings him home, that he’s found somewhere… I don’t know.
“Every day my mind is going blank. I don’t know what to say anymore… I’m praying he comes home every night. I’ve still got hope for him. I still feel like he’s somewhere.”