Police in Tenerife have called for volunteers to take part in a large-scale search for missing Jay Slater – as the British teenager’s friend revealed details of a video call the pair had shortly before he vanished.
Officials said it would take place on Saturday in the village of Masca on the Spanish island.
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Volunteers called for in Jay Slater search
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.
Image: The Los Carrizales ravine which was being searched by police. Pic: Reuters
Image: Canarian police officers carry out a drone search in the Los Carrizales ravine. Pic: Reuters
Police said volunteers should call the Guardia Civil before 8pm this evening if they want to join the search.
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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.
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Police search mountains for Jay Slater
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.
Image: Map showing Jay Slater’s last known location in Masca, Los Carrizales where police are searching and Los Cristianos, where Jay was staying
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’.”
Almost as soon we arrived today to cover the search for Jay Slater in this sprawling national park, 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 the 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 resources 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.
Image: Jay Slater is an apprentice bricklayer. Pic: PH Build Group
“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.
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.
Donald Trump may be denied the honour of addressing parliament on his state visit to the UK later this year, with no formal request yet submitted for him to be given that privilege.
Sky News has been told the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, hasn’t so far received a request to invite the US president to speak in parliament when he is expected to visit in September.
It was confirmed to MPs who have raised concerns about the US president being allowed to address both houses.
Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, wrote to the speaker in April asking him to stop Mr Trump from addressing parliament, and tabled an early-day motion outlining her concerns.
“I was happy to see Macron here but feel very differently about Trump,” she said.
“Trump has made some very uncomfortable and worrying comments around the UK government, democracy, the Middle East, particularly around equalities and, of course, Ukraine.
“So, I think there are many reasons why, when we’re looking at a state visit, we should be looking at why they’re being afforded that privilege. Because, of course, it is a privilege for somebody to come and address both of the houses.”
But the timing of the visit may mean that any diplomatic sensitivities, or perceptions of a snub, could be avoided.
Image: France’s President Emmanuel Macron addressed parliament during his state visit this month
Lord Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, pointed out that parliament isn’t sitting for much of September, and that could help resolve the issue.
In 2017, he wrote a public letter questioning the decision to give Donald Trump his first state visit, saying it put Queen Elizabeth II in a “very difficult position”.
Parliament rises from 16 September until 13 October due to party conferences.
The dates for the state visit haven’t yet been confirmed by Buckingham Palace or the government.
However, they have not denied that it will take place in September, after Mr Trump appeared to confirm they were planning to hold the state visit that month. The palace confirmed this week that the formal planning for his arrival had begun.
Image: Mr Trump has said he believes the trip to the UK will take place in September. Pic: Reuters
When asked about parliamentary recess potentially solving the issue, Ms Osborne said: “It may be a way of dealing with it in a very diplomatic way… I don’t know how much control we have over Trump’s diary.
“But if we can manoeuvre it in a way that means that the House isn’t sitting, then that seems like a good solution, maybe not perfect, because I’d actually like him to know that he’s not welcome.”
A message from the speaker’s office, seen by Sky News, says: “Formal addresses to both Houses of Parliament are not automatically included in the itinerary of such a state visit.
“Whether a foreign head of state addresses parliament, during a state visit or otherwise, is part of the planning decisions.”
Image: Mr Trump made his first state visit to the UK in June 2019 during his first presidency. File pic: Reuters
It’s understood that if the government agrees to a joint address to parliament, the Lord Chamberlain’s office writes to the two speakers, on behalf of the King, to ask them to host this.
It will be Mr Trump’s second state visit.
During his first, in 2019, he didn’t address parliament, despite the fact that his predecessor, Barack Obama, was asked to do so.
It was unclear if this was due to the fact John Bercow, the speaker at the time, made it clear he wasn’t welcome to do so.
However, it didn’t appear to dampen Mr Trump’s excitement about his time with the Royal Family.
Speaking earlier this year, he described his state visit as “a fest” adding “it’s an honour… I’m a friend of Charles, I have great respect for King Charles and the family, William; we have really just a great respect for the family. And I think they’re setting a date for September.”
It is expected that, like Mr Macron, the pageantry for his trip this time will revolve around Windsor, with refurbishment taking place at Buckingham Palace.
Fuel to the engines of the Air India plane that crashed last month appears to have cut off shortly after take-off, a preliminary report has found.
According to the report switches in the cockpit that controlled fuel moved to a “CUTOFF” position.
It said: “Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of one second.
“The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.”
Image: The crash site. Pic: AAIB
There was then confusion in the cockpit. In the voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he “cut off”. The other pilot responds that he did not do so.
There were no conclusions as to how the switches were moved.
One of the engines was able to be restarted, but could not reverse the plane’s deceleration, the report found.
“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in the report.
Image: A diagram in the report shows how the plane crashed into a building. Pic: AAIB
No significant bird activity was observed in the vicinity of the plane’s flight path, the report said. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall, it added.
The plane plummeted into a busy area, killing 241 passengers and 19 others on the ground while incinerating everything around it.
The AAIB’s report is based on the initial findings of the probe, marking 30 days since the crash.
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Liverpool have retired the number 20 shirt in honour of Diogo Jota – the first time it has made such a gesture.
The club said it was a “unique tribute to a uniquely wonderful person” and the decision was made in consultation with his wife and family.
The number 20 will be retired at all levels, including the men’s and women’s first teams and academy squads.
A statement said: “It was the number he wore with pride and distinction, leading us to countless victories in the process – and Diogo Jota will forever be Liverpool Football Club’s number 20.”
The club called it a “recognition of not only the immeasurable contribution our lad from Portugal made to the Reds’ on-pitch successes over the last five years, but also the profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them”.
Image: Jota’s wife joined Liverpool players to view tributes at Anfield on Friday. Pic: Liverpool FC
Image: Pic: Liverpool FC
Newly-married Jota died alongside his brother when his Lamborghini crashed in northern Spain on 3 July.