The family of missing teen Jay Slater are set to meet with Spanish police today after the search for the British tourist was called off yesterday.
Jay’s family has vowed to continue the search themselves after being left “disappointed” when only six volunteers showed up to help launch a “massive search” on Saturday.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer has been missing for two weeks and was last heard from on June 17 after going to a rave with his friends in Tenerife.
He met two men at the rave and stayed the night at their Airbnb near Masca in the northwest of the island – an 11-hour walk from his accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south.
After he called his friend Lucy Law while attempting to make the journey back, police had been searching the area where his phone last “pinged”, but announced their latest mission was called off after just one day.
Spanish police said on Sunday: “The search operation is over. Yesterday was the final day of the search.”
Jay’s father Warren said: “It’s a bit disappointing that there are no British apart from Paul but I suppose to them he’s just a British lad who’s come out here and got drunk.
“You can see just how dangerous it is and what gets me is the trollers who are having a go at us for not searching. It’s not the local park, these are big mountains, and the terrain is dangerous, put yourself in our position; would you go out in these conditions?
Despite the disappointment, Warren said he was “grateful” to those who took part in the search for his son.
He added: “It’s tough, it’s hard, we are leaving it to the professionals and I’m grateful for those who have turned out today and I want to thank them for what they are doing.
“We just still can’t believe it; it’s been so tough on us, and I want people to think about us as parents and what we are going through.
“All those trollers having a go at us, they don’t know how we feel, why don’t they come up here and have a look and see for themselves how dangerous it is.”
One of the six volunteers who showed up to help the search party, popular TikTok climber Paul Arnott, slammed the whole thing as a “ridiculous” waste of time.
He said: “This is ridiculous. Everyone’s in their cars, it’s all chat, chat, chat. My morning’s been wasted. I’ve been so quiet about this, I’m not doing it anymore. I’m sick of this crap.
“I thought today was going to be so productive. I thought so many people were going to show up. I thought it was going to be massive and it’s not. It’s absolute madness guys.”