THE ravine Jay Slater may have vanished in “hasn’t been searched properly”, says a British army veteran part of the hunt in Tenerife.
Chris Pennington has been leading the mountainous search for Jay alongside his distraught family but he has now claimed the area is so dense and dangerous the teen may still be out there.
The ex-army reservist has been posting regular updates on his TikTok as he scours the large region the Brit’s phone last pinged.
He believes the missing 19-year-old may still be in the ravine despite a source telling The Sun yesterday he could be alive in another part of Tenerife.
But Chris has claimed it is more likely he hasn’t been found yet because he had an “accident” as he made the treacherous walk.
Another big concern is the heat and high altitude in the mountains which could have resulted in a dehydrated Jay passing out, says Chris.
During a phone call with best pal Lucy Mae Law on the morning he went missing Jay reportedly told her he “needed water” before his phone died.
To get through that you would literally need 100 people just trying to bulldoze their way through it and even then its just a needle in a haystack
Chris Pennington
Chris said in a video taken from the search site: “That area has not been searched properly because it is so hard to search.
“To get through that you would literally need 100 people just trying to bulldoze their way through it and even then its just a needle in a haystack.
“He’s had a fall, he’s had an accident or he’s dehydrated and passed out. I feel he’s in this ravine, in this area of Tenerife missing – I honestly believe that.”
Many others helping with the investigation have echoed similar warnings over how they need more people helping.
Jay’s devastated dad Warren Slater, 58, called on Interpol and British cops to fly out as he warned it would take “an army 10 years” to search the whole area.
Lancashire police confirmed to The Sun that they will not be going out to aid in the search.
Without an invitation from Spanish police they are unable to jet out, The Sun understands.
The hunt has now entered its fourth week with no trace of the teen since he vanished on June 17.
Cops announced on Wednesday they are set to pursue at least three bombshell leads after a source in Tenerife told The Sun the case is “very much open” with “all scenarios being kept in mind”.
There are still “several lines of inquiry” active in the hunt to find the missing teen as The Sun revealed investigators haven’t deemed the teen as “missing feared dead” yet.
The apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire headed back to an Airbnb hours away from his holiday apartment after a night of partying on June 16 with two “new friends”.
He was reported missing by pal Lucy hours after he left the rented home in Masca as he embarked on a treacherous 11-hour trek through rough and rocky terrain.
The Spanish Guardia Civil deployed a mammoth search party in hopes of finding Jay as his family and friends all flew out to look for him.
Efforts have centred around Rural de Teno park – a mountainous region near to where his phone’s location pinged for the final time.
As well as the town of Santiago del Teide when apparent CCTV footage caught Jay wandering across the road.
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 8 marked three weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew out to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, has made headlines around the country.
On Sunday June 16 the three of them headed off to one of the events at Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday 17 – Lucy and Brad were ready to head back to their hotel, but Jay wanted to keep partying.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two British men.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days it was thought that the second mystery man went by the name ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is out in Tenerife investigating, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We don’t yet know the identity of the second man – who remains a key part of the puzzle in Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he drove Jay and the friend back to their accommodation and said they all went to sleep.
In the morning he offered to drive the teen back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims she had a panicked call from him soon after he left the holiday let, telling her he was lost and thirsty, his phone was about to die and that he’d been cut by a cactus.
Jay had been seen by the owner of the Airbnb that morning wandering around near the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous region close-by.
He is believed to have been attempting the 11-hour trek back to his hotel, despite the alleged offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last pinged – and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he left the Airbnb quickly, and was “scared”.
Bizarrely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from an unnamed friend of Jay, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “tracked down” the two men in the Airbnb after he vanished – quizzing them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports have suggested Lucy knew the two men, although it is not clear how.
She has dubbed his disappearance “weird and suspicious”.
Both men were questioned by Spanish cops on June 17 but quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and cleared to fly back to the UK.
Police spent almost two weeks searching for Jay in the Tenerife mountains, scouring a 2,000ft ravine, before calling it off on Sunday June 30.
Jay’s family have repeatedly slammed the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teen’s devastated dad, Warren Slater, says “everything stinks”
He told The Sun: “My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him – and then start from there.”
A number of unanswered questions remain, over why Jay would have travelled so far with two older men he didn’t know, why said men would have taken him in, and why he braved the Tenerife mountains with no phone battery, water or heat protection for a day-long walk
