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After four weeks, the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater appears to have come to an end in northern Tenerife.
Human remains have been found in the area where the 19-year-old vanished on the morning of 17 June, Spanish police said on Monday.
The Civil Guard said the evidence strongly suggested the remains were those of the Lancashire teenager, with his clothes and possessions found nearby.
Authorities said DNA tests will be carried out to establish the person’s identity, along with an autopsy to uncover the cause of their death.
A Spanish police spokesperson said: “All indications are that it could be the young British man who had been missing for 29 days.
“He could have died due to an accidental fall on the steep and inaccessible area where he has been found. We are awaiting the results of the autopsy to confirm that it is about an accident.”
Upon discovering the body, the Spanish authorities said that despite officially calling off the search after 13 days, they had continued an “incessant and discreet” search in which the “natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with curious onlookers”.
While Mr Slater’s family has not yet commented on the discovery, a charity supporting them said they were “supporting the family at this distressing time”.
The statement, released on Monday afternoon, read: “LBT Global is saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater. It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
“Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes. A post mortem and forensic enquiries will follow.”
Mr Slater, was last heard from on Monday 17 June, as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot.
He had travelled to the tourist hotspot with friends to attend the music festival NRG in what was his first holiday without his family.
On Sunday, his friend Lucy Law told Manchester Evening News that she had left the festival early, with Mr Slater staying on and going to a nightclub in Playa de las Americas.
He later travelled to an Airbnb in the remote Masca valley with two men, one of them known to be Briton Ayub Qassim, but left their accommodation at around 8am to travel home.
The apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last seen by a cafe owner, who said the teenager had asked her about bus times before deciding not to wait two hours for a service.
She then saw him walk out of the village, and his phone was last detected in the Rural de Teno national park.
A frantic search was launched for Mr Slater after he disappeared, with police, mountain rescue teams and volunteers scouring the mountainous terrain for two weeks.
Despite the official search being called off, his heartbroken family vowed to keep searching for him and criticised local police and residents for not doing more to help their son.
At the time, his mother Debbie Duncan said: “As we approach four weeks of our beautiful Jay’s disappearance, we cannot put into words the heartache we are suffering as a family.
“Jay is a typical young man who loves life with a bright future ahead of him. This month will mark the end of his three year apprenticeship with the world at his feet. He is loved by everyone and has a close bond with his family and many many friends.
“We would also like to say that we are aware of the awful comments and conspiracy theories that are filling social media. These theories are hindering the people trying to help us in their investigations here in Tenerife and are vile to see as a family.”
