Missing Brit Jay Slater is believed to have disappeared in the beautiful yet most dangerous area of Tenerife nicknamed ‘badlands’ due to the terrain. The tiny hamlet of Masca clings to the rocky outcrops of northwestern Tenerife in the far-flung Teno Nature Reserve. It is one of the most remote parts of Tenerife, and in the past few years more rescues have been carried out here than anywhere else in the Canary Islands , according to the website of the Masca visitors centre.
The search for 19-year-old Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, is now into its sixth day after he was last heard from by a friend last Monday. He was attempting to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus. He had attended the NRG music festival on the island with two friends before his disappearance.
The owner of the Airbnb property he was reportedly driven to, who gave her name as Ophelia, told reporters she saw Jay walk up the road past her property but did not see him again after that – describing the situation as worrying. Helicopters, rescue dogs and drones have been used in an effort to find the teenager. Officers have been seen peering over the hillside and staring intently at the landscape through binoculars near Masca.
Search teams paid close attention to a river called Barranco Madre del Agua at the bottom of a 2,000ft ravine, where personnel with sticks carefully searched through fallen dead palm trees. Jonathan Stones who moved to Tenerife when he was aged 13 reportedly said ho.