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Jay Slater’s mother reveals how family will use remaining donations from £48,000 GoFundMe

Jay Slater's mother reveals how family will use remaining donations from £48,000 GoFundMe

Jay Slater’s family are to remain in Tenerife to continue the search for the missing teenager.

It comes after police on the Spanish island called off the land search after 12 days of looking for the 19-year-old Briton, who was last heard from on 17 June.

In a statement on a crowdfunding page set up to help find Mr Slater – which has neared £50,000 of donations – his mother shared an update on how the funds would be used.

Debbie Duncan wrote that although the Spanish police’s land search, which “involved every resource they had available”, has ended, the officers will “continue with their investigations into why Jay had travelled to the location so far away from his accommodation”.

Helicopters, drones and search dogs had been deployed to find the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, but without success.

Ms Duncan thanked Spanish authorities and supporters on the GoFundMe page, adding: “We will continue to use part of the funds to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay.”

“We are currently looking after Paul Arnett, putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him. We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.

“The remaining funds will continue to be used to support the rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay as well as our own expenses as we remain in Tenerife looking for our boy.”

Mr Slater had gone to Tenerife with friends on 13 June to attend a music festival at Papagayo nightclub in the southern resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June.

After he left the event, he got in a car early the next morning, travelling to a small Airbnb in the northern village of Masca with two men, who police said are “not relevant” to the case.

At 8.30am on 17 June, he called his friend Lucy Law, telling her he missed his bus and had tried to walk back to his accommodation – an 11-hour journey.

He said he had “cut his leg” on a cactus, had “no idea where he was”, was “lost in the mountains” and his phone battery was on “1%”. Shortly afterwards, his battery ran out and he was reported missing at 9.04am.

His last known location was in the Rural de Teno Park, near Masca.

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