Jay Slater: Tenerife police call for volunteers to take part in large-scale search for missing British teenager

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2 days ago

June 28, 2024

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Police in Tenerife have called for volunteers to take part in a large-scale search for missing British teenager Jay Slater.

Officials said it would take place on Saturday in the village of Masca on the Spanish island.

In a statement, police said: “The Guardia Civil prepares and coordinates a large search to find the young British man missing in the village of Masca.

“The collaboration of all those volunteer associations is requested: Civil protection, firefighters, etc., and even private volunteers who are experts in the abrupt search terrain.

“The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am.

“Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those associations of volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested,” the statement said.

Police said volunteers should call the Guardia Civil before 8pm this evening if they want to join the search.

The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared following an attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

The apprentice bricklayer had attended the NRG music festival on the island with two friends before his disappearance and was last heard from on Monday last week.

The walk from Mr Slater’s last known location, Rural de Teno Park in the north of the island, to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.

Meanwhile, one of Mr Slater’s friends told ITV’s This Morning about his last video call with the 19-year-old.

Brad, a close friend of Mr Slater, said yes to the reporter’s question as to whether he saw the missing teenager’s feet slide on rocks. He said that is how he knew Mr Slater was not on a road, and described the sound as when someone is walking on gravel or stones.

Brad added that Mr Slater went down a “little drop” in one of his last video calls.

He said the missing teenager was not concerned and that they were both “laughing” about the situation.

“He said, ‘look where I am’. He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he were,” Brad said.

“I said, ‘put your location on’. He said: ’15-minute drive, 14-hour walk’. I don’t know if it’s accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi’.”

New search could be the final push

Shingi Mararike, Sky News correspondent, in Tenerife

Almost as soon we arrived today to cover the search for Jay Slater in this sprawling national park on the outskirts of Tenerife, things felt different.

The police presence was smaller, with fewer vehicles and officers. They appeared to have stopped searching the caves and ravines they’d honed in on earlier this week.

Instead, the small team of officers drove towards some of nearby hamlets along the twisting, narrow road, before turning around and coming back to the observation point near where Jay’s phone is thought to have been last located.

There, they stopped for an animated discussion. As they gestured towards parts of the rural, arid landscape, it was clear they were coordinating and planning.

Then, within minutes, came an update from the Civil Guard. Tomorrow, at 9am they would be re-doubling their efforts to find Jay, working with other emergency services and even inviting the help of volunteers with experience in traversing difficult terrain.

That landscape presents a clear challenge, but another issue for those searching tomorrow will be just how busy the area of Masca is.

It’s a compact town full of hikers and tourists, a busy place from early in the morning.

The search party will have to navigate all of these obstacles as they attempt to retrace the teenager’s last-known steps and find clues for what may have happened to him.

Tomorrow marks the 13th day searching for Jay Slater and this is perhaps a final push from the Civil Guard to make some kind of headway.

Even with more resource and manpower, it will be a gruelling day for all those involved.

Today’s police statement comes as Mr Slater’s family welcomed the help of a TikTok creator among those leading an online search for the missing teenager.

Sky News spoke earlier this week to Paul Arnott, who has been sharing clips of his own search effort on TikTok and said he came to Tenerife when he heard the family “needed help”.

According to The Daily Telegraph, his efforts attracted the interest of Mr Slater’s family, who contacted him and arranged a meeting on Thursday.

“They said they’re really proud of what I’m doing,” Mr Arnott, 29, told the newspaper.

Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, told the paper she has “every faith” in the police and singled out Mr Arnott, who runs the TikTok account Down the Rapids and describes himself as an “explorer”, and another TikTok creator Callum Rahim for thanks.

“[I] can’t thank Paul Arnott enough, also Callum Rahim and his friends for working alongside with the search and rescue teams,” she said.

“Myself, well, you know the state of my mental health and my paranoia, you saw it first hand. As a family, we are in a living nightmare.”

Social media has also had a dark side for the family, with Ms Duncan and her son’s friends at the centre of conspiracy theories.

The construction company that employs Mr Slater shared a post on Facebook earlier on Thursday urging people to stop sending them “cruel” emails and to stop posting theories online.

Also on Thursday, Ms Duncan said £36,000 raised by more than 3,200 donations will help cover her accommodation and food costs during her extended stay on the island as well as support rescue teams.

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Jay Slater: Search for missing British teenager in area of Tenerife called off by police

Published

13 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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Jay Slater: Search for missing British teenager in area of Tenerife called off by police

The search for Jay Slater in an area of Tenerife has been called off, police have said, nearly two weeks after his disappearance.

The British teenager, from Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn in Lancashire, has been missing in Tenerife since 17 June, when he vanished the morning after a rave.

The Civil Guard called for volunteers to join a new search in the Masca area – near his last-known location – on Saturday.

It has now confirmed to Sky News that the search has ended. Police are keeping the investigation open and could yet open up searches in the south of the island, but have not provided an update.

A handful of volunteers turned up to help rescue teams on Saturday, forming a total group of 30 to 40 people scouring a huge area of rugged and hilly terrain.

Mr Slater, 19, had been on holiday with friends on the Spanish island and was last pictured at Papayago, a nightclub hosting the end of the NRG festival, late on 16 June.

After the event ended, he got in a car travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca with two men, who police said on Saturday are “not relevant” to the case.

His last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the island – which is about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.

A local cafe owner told Sky News he tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.

Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she spoke to the teenager at 8am on 17 June, telling him a bus was due at 10am – but he set off walking and she said she later drove past him “walking fast”.

The apprentice bricklayer called a friend holidaying with him at around 8.30am on 17 June and said he was going to walk back after missing the bus.

He also told his friend he was lost and in need of water, with only 1% charge on his phone.

On Friday, Mr Slater’s friend Brad Hargreaves told ITV’s This Morning he had been on a video call with him before his disappearance when he heard him go off the road.

He said he could see his friend’s feet “sliding” down the hill and hear he was walking on gravel.

Meanwhile, Mr Slater’s 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.

Local police and the Civil Guard, along with Mr Slater’s family, have been involved in the search.

Since his disappearance, rumours and conspiracy theories have emerged amid online speculation on social media.

Some social media sleuths have even travelled to Tenerife to try and find him.

World

Polls open in French election that could see far-right in government

Published

16 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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Polls open in French election that could see far-right in government

Voters in France are heading to the polls today for a parliamentary election that could usher in the country’s first far-right government since the Second World War.

French President Emmanuel Macron called a surprise vote after his centrist alliance was soundly beaten in the European elections by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally earlier this month.

Voting began at 8am (7am UK time), closing at 4pm in smaller towns and 6pm in bigger cities. A winner may be apparent on Sunday night.

France has a semi-presidential system, which means it has both a president and a prime minister.

The voting taking place today will determine who is prime minister but not president, with Mr Macron already set on remaining in his role until the end of his term in 2027.

If Ms Le Pen’s party wins an absolute majority, France would have a government and president from opposing political camps for only the fourth time in post-war history.

How does the election work?

There are 577 constituency contests, one for each seat in the National Assembly, which is the lower house of parliament.

Candidates with an absolute majority of votes in their constituency are elected in the first round.

In most cases, no candidate meets this criteria and a second round is held, which will be next Sunday – 7 July – when the final outcome will be confirmed.

To qualify for the run-off, candidates need first-round votes amounting to at least 12.5% of registered voters.

The top scorer wins the second round.

When will we have a result?

Voting ends at 8pm (7pm UK time), when pollsters publish nationwide projections based on a partial vote count.

Official results start trickling in, with counting usually fast and efficient and the winners of almost all seats likely to be known by the end of the evening.

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New York Times calls on Biden to quit race after disastrous debate

Published

2 days ago

June 29, 2024

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New York Times calls on Biden to quit race after disastrous debate

A defiant Joe Biden has attacked Donald Trump at a rally a day after the president’s “shocking” performance in a head-to-head debate.

His showing in the debate against Trump on Thursday night was described as an “unmitigated disaster” by some in his own party after he paused and stumbled his way through, prompting calls for him to step down.

Adding to those calls, The New York Times urged the president to quit the race to give another candidate a better chance at defeating Trump.

“Mr Biden has been an admirable president,” the newspaper said in a piece by its editorial board.

“But the greatest public service Mr Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.”

It added: “As it stands, the president is engaged in a reckless gamble. There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency.

“There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr Biden.”

‘I can do this job’

Mr Biden has tried to quell anxieties since his performance. At a rally in North Carolina, he appeared to acknowledge the criticism, but struck a defiant tone.

“I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know,” said Mr Biden. “I know how to tell the truth.”

“I give you my word as a Biden, I wouldn’t be running again if I did not believe, with all my heart and soul, I can do this job,” he told the rally.

Mr Biden attacked the former president’s criminal record, calling Trump a “one-man crimewave”.

“My guess is he set a new record for the most lies told in a single debate,” he added, telling the crowd he spent “90 minutes on the stage debating a guy with the morals of an alley cat”.

Hours later, Donald Trump was jubilant at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia.

“Never mind that crooked Joe Biden spent a week at Camp David, resting, working, studying – he studied so hard he didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” Mr Trump told the crowd.

“Biden’s problem is not his age, […] he’s got no problem other than his competence. He’s grossly incompetent,” he added.

Bad debate nights happen

Barack Obama tweeted his support for President Biden on Friday evening, saying: “Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know.”

Joe Biden had a cold and sore throat during last night’s debate, the White House said.

But others remained unconvinced he should run for president.

“I do not think President Joe Biden can be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer in 2024,” former White House director of global engagement Brett Bruen told Sky News’ Yalda Hakim.

“Last night’s performance was astonishingly bad. You cannot just be strong on the teleprompter,” he said.

But Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, blamed the president’s poor performance on his preparation.

“He wasn’t prepped right for that debate. He’s an older man,” Mr Scaramucci told Yalda Hakim.

“You don’t fill his head with facts and figures he’s never going to remember.”

There have been repeated calls for President Biden to step down.

It’s “time to talk about an open convention and a new Democratic nominee,” one Democratic politician told Sky’s US partner network NBC News.

However, while Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that President Joe Biden had a “slow start” in the debate, she insisted that he finished “strong”.

President Biden’s campaign spokesperson said there are no conversations taking place about the president stepping aside from his re-election bid.

He also still plans to take part in the next debate against Donald Trump, which is slated for 10 September, said the spokesperson. They added that last night’s debate has not changed the campaign strategy.

At a Waffle House restaurant in Atlanta after the debate, Biden told reporters he did not have concerns about his performance. “It’s hard to debate a liar,” he said.