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A TikToker who answered family pleas to join the hunt for Jay Slater in Tenerife is puzzled by the discovery of his body in an area he believed had been searched thoroughly.
Londoner Callum Fahim scoured the rocky ravines of the Spanish island with a search party just days after the apprentice bricklayer vanished outside a remote Airbnb in Masca.
Mr Slater, 19, went missing on 17 June and his phone was last traced to a ravine in a remote national park.
His body was found by a Civil Guard mountain rescue group alongside his possessions and clothes close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
Missing people charity LBT Global said his injuries appeared to be consistent with an accidental fall from a considerable height.
Follow the latest updates on Jay Slater here
Mr Fahim spoke to The Independent shortly after a Spanish court said autopsy fingerprinting confirmed the body belongs to the teenager.
Mr Fahim said: “I’m absolutely devastated.
“We searched that area on the first day right next to where he was found further down. It is very dangerous there and inaccessible really. They had to get a helicopter to lift searchers out of there.
“We just assumed that specialists had been there - it just looked like another bit of shrub to us. I don’t know what is going through someone’s head to walk down there. There are unmade paths all over the area - some more dangerous than others.
“The police weren’t particularly interested in that area at that time. They would walk around looking side-to-side driving up the road but I was there climbing through all the cactuses.
“The police said they had searched the area with drones and all that. It doesn’t make sense.”
He added: “I think we kind of expected that he wouldn’t be coming out alive. But just now, the question is what led him to be there?
“I am gutted we couldn’t find him sooner because there could have been a chance to save his life. I will always question myself - could I have done better?
“I do feel like I failed a little bit, no matter what people say. I imagine I’ve walked past him five or six times.
“I hope this means the whole family can get peace, including the people who tried their hardest to find him. I‘m just gutted, really.”
Mr Fahim cancelled his own search after a row with the Slater family over his expenses while in Tenerife.
He added: “His mum has been sitting there in hell for 29 days constantly. I wish I had given everyone closure. I just wish he could’ve been found in the first couple of days.”
Mr Fahim added he had bought tickets to fly back to Tenerife to rejoin the search on Wednesday, but following the tragic update he would no longer be returning to the party island.
“My main focus was always bringing him home. If the family want any help I would sort it out straight away,” he said.
“I hope this puts it all to rest and I hope this gives Jay’s family the closure they need.”
Mr Slater’s mother said her family’s “hearts are broken” after the body found in the search for the British teenager was confirmed to be his.
Debbie Duncan said the confirmation of her son’s death in Tenerife was “the worst news”.
In a statement released through the charity LBT Global, she said: “I just can’t believe this could happen to my beautiful boy. Our hearts are broken.”
