Jay Slater’s dad says police keeping family in dark – as they share new CCTV image in hope of finding teen
Jay Slater’s father has said police have left him and his family in the dark over the search for the missing British teenager – as they shared what they hope is an image of him.
Warren Slater, the 19-year-old’s dad, said that while some officers on Tenerife had been “brilliant”, he had been left frustrated at the lack of communication from others.
Speaking to reporters, he said: “Nobody’s told us. The mountain police [have been] brilliant… but I don’t know how the other police [force] works.
“They could be doing everything but if they are doing [something], they’re not telling us what they’re doing, if you understand what I’m saying.”
A CCTV image that could be of missing teen Jay Slater
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, has been missing on the Spanish island since the morning of Monday 17 June.
He had been on a holiday with friends and was last heard from just around 8.30am that day, when he called his friend Lucy Law to say he was setting off to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.
The walk from Mr Slater’s last known location, Rural de Teno Park, around the mountainous village of Masca, in the north of the island, to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.
It comes as his family shared a blurry image of what they believe could be the missing teenager captured on CCTV in a nearby town 10 hours after he was first reported missing.
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Sky News has not been able to verify the source of the picture.
The sighting has not been confirmed by Spanish police but the family are pinning their hopes that it may help bring their son home.
Mr Slater’s family have flown to the island to try and retrace his steps as a GoFundMe appeal to raise money for the search surpassed £30,000 over the weekend.
The apprentice bricklayer had gone to the NRG festival in south Tenerife with friends on the Sunday afternoon.
An appeal poster for Jay Slater. Pic: PA
Following that, he went to Masca with two people he had met at the festival.
Around 8am last Monday, Mr Slater spoke to Ofelia Medina Hernandez and she told him a bus was due at 10am – as he seemingly hoped to get back to his accommodation.
But he set off walking – she said she later drove past him as he was “walking fast”.
Not long after, he called his friend Ms Law and said he was lost and trying to walk from Masca to his accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south of the island.
Shortly after 9am that morning he was reported missing.
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Jay Slater: What is happening with search?
Helicopters, rescue dogs and drones have spent days scouring overgrown terrain, hillsides and rivers as the search continues.
Mr Slater’s family have set up a Facebook group to help review images and footage in an effort to find him.
The Spanish Civil Guard previously told UK media it was “doing everything possible” to find Mr Slater.
“A specialist mountain rescue and intervention group called the Greim have been mobilised.”
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Warren Slater, speaking previously to Sky News, said he is “just hoping that somebody has helped him off this mountain”.
He added: “That’s all I want, that somebody has helped him get off this mountain. I just want him back and that’s it. He’s my son.”
His voice cracking, Mr Slater said the last few days have been “a nightmare, just a nightmare”.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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