Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Spanish police say body found on Tenerife is likely British teen who went missing nearly a month ago

Spanish police say human remains have been found in the search for a British teen who went missing almost a month ago on the island of Tenerife

Via AP news wire
Monday 15 July 2024 17:46 BST
Britain Missing Teen Tenerife
Britain Missing Teen Tenerife

Your support helps us to tell the story

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Head shot of Andrew Feinberg

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Human remains have been found in the search for a British teen who went missing almost a month ago on the island of Tenerife, Spanish police said Monday.

It is likely to be the body of Jay Slater, though formal identification has not been made, police said.

“The Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group of the Civil Guard has located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search,” according to the statement. “All indications indicate that it could be the young British man who has been missing since last June 17."

LBT Global, a charity that supported Slater’s family, said the body was found with Slater’s clothing and possessions near the last location of his mobile phone.

Slater, 19, was last seen as he set out to walk from Masca, a village in the northwest of the Canary Island, to where he had been staying in Los Cristianos in the south. It was a trip that would have taken about 11 hours on foot over rugged terrain.

Slater frantically called his friend, Lucy Law, that morning and said he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%,” she said.

Police said the body was found in a very remote area and that an autopsy will be performed “to confirm that the death was accidental.”

Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle in northwest England, had attended a music festival the day before his disappearance.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in