Tenerife is worst place to go missing as it’s plagued by search failures, expert warned BEFORE Jay Slater case
TENERIFE cops were warned over a soaring number of disappearances before Jay Slater vanished.
The Sun can reveal authorities were told two years ago their resources were insufficient and were urged to improve them after repeated failures.
Jay, 19, is one of 11 people who have gone missing in Tenerife in just six months.
The coordinator of SOS Disappeared in Tenerife, Santiago Carlos Martín, told how “families feel abandoned” during hunts for their loved ones.
Mr Martín, who leads a group of around 40 volunteers, said: “There are many who have disappeared in the Canary Islands and the number has increased since the pandemic.”
He and his team have called for more multidisciplinary teams to be on standby to help with searches.
These would include not only the police, but emergency workers, health experts, psychologists and other professionals who could form a more accurate picture of why someone might have gone missing.
Between 2020 and 2023, official data from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior reveals at least 460 adults went missing in that period on the Canary Islands from a population of just 2.2million.
It has the second-highest number of missing people in the whole of Spain.
And that was only behind Span’s biggest region of Andalucia which had 755 missing people in the same period from a population four times larger of 8.5million.
Speaking in 2022 Mr Martin said: “There are many disappeared in the Canary Islands and the number has increased after the pandemic.
“We are at the head of the country, and we are not clear why.
“Perhaps the orography or the social structure have an influence, but we don’t know.”
The most pressing issue, according to Mr Martin, is geolocation.
He said: “One of the big problems is that the police often take time to geolocate the telephone numbers of the disappeared person due to bureaucratic procedures that act as a barrier.
“The time in a disappearance is important and the process is too complex, which wastes many days.
“And they are vulnerable people: elderly, minors, with cognitive problems, mental health or with a history of suicide.”
Mr Martin said, in his experience, there were three groups of people who tend to disappear.
The first, he said, are those suffering from mental ill health, the second are those who run away from centres, and the third are those who disappear due to the action of third parties.
According to Mr Martin family members have complained that they lack emotional and institutional support during the process.
And those whose relatives are found still do not receive it when “they would really need it,” Mr Martin said.
Sharing a comment Jay’s mum, Mr Martin said: “Hope is the last thing a human being can lose”.
The national president of SOS Disappeared, Joaquín Amills, believes a good relationship between those leading the search and the families is key.
11 missing in Tenerife in six month
JAY Slater is one of 11 people who have gone missing in Tenerife in the last six months.
Authorities on the island are investigating the disappearances of several tourists.
They include:
Marc Francis Olbrechts
Belgian national Marc Francis, 71, vanished on April 24.
He was last seen in Adeje, southwest Tenerife.
His wife Laura Gaston, 66, was found floating off the east coast by a fisherman.
There was a bag over Laura’s head and she was missing one hand and both legs.
Three people were arrested over her death.
Mariel González Gutiérrez and Sebastian Cobos Gonzalez
Mariel González Gutiérrez, 27, and Sebastian Cobos Gonzalez, two, were reported missing on March 21.
They were last known to be Santa Cruz – and the Desaparecidos Association said it is investigating a possible case of child abduction.
Authorities fear the pair may have left the island and gone to another country.
Marek Siedlecki
Marek Siedlecki, from Poland, disappeared on June 14.
It is understood the Polish national was heading to Lanzarote, where he planned to fly home.
Local media reports Marek was sailing his boat when he was last seen in the water.
Natalia Belavus and Vladimir Marcella
Vladimir Marcella and his mum Natalia Belavus, 28, vanished on March 27.
Authorities are probing whether it is “parental abduction”.
The pair are claimed to be in Belarus, where Natalia is from, and have been pictured on social media since, according to local reports.
Rayco Garcia Diaz
Rayco Garcia Diaz was reported missing on March 15 from Barranco Hondo-Candelaria.
Officials say the 44-year-old was last known to be driving a silver Ford KA.
Authorities say Rayco is “vulnerable”.
Noelia Hernandez Martin
Noelia Hernandez Martin, 17, was last seen on January 23.
She reported missing from San Cristóbal de La Laguna in northern Tenerife.
Marek J
Marek went missing from Vallerhermosa, a village in La Gomera.
Authorities were alerted on June 8.
Juan Cabrera Gonzalez
Juan Cabrera Gonzalez, 60, was reported missing on January 13.
He was last seen in La Orotava.
“The number and increase in missing persons and the many unsolved cases in the islands are striking,” he previously warned.
His idea is to link different experts to work together to improve the chances of finding missing people or getting answers for their families.
Mr Amills added: “There are fewer resources here and to change that we all have to work together.
“If there is a missing person in Seville, help can come from other Andalusian province
“It would be interesting to bring back the training courses that stopped due to Covid.
“The time in a disappearance is important and the process is too complex, which wastes many days.”
Jay, 19, has been missing for 11 days and was last seen on the north of the island.
After going to a rave that finished in the early hours of June 17, Jay, from Lancashire, headed to Masca with two British men he had met that night.
He shared a final Snapchat from their Airbnb of a hand holding a cigarette at 7.30am.
Jay then tried to make his way back to his holiday accommodation – an 11-hour walk away.
But at around 8.50am he made a final frantic call to friend Lucy, telling her he was lost in the “middle of nowhere” with no water and had just one per cent battery on his phone.
It sparked a mammoth search operation involving helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs that has so far drawn blanks.
Rescue crews have been focusing their efforts on the 2,000ft Masca ravine in the north, where his phone last pinged a nearby cell tower.
It comes as…
- Jay’s mum Debbie withdrawing GoFundMe cash to fly supporters out to Tenerife
- Ex-top cop who tracked down Raoul Moat reveals search theory
- Jay was attacked by gang when he was just 12
- New pics of Jay emerge at a pool party two days before he vanished
- Cops quiz locals who ‘saw Jay watching Euros’
- Investigator reveals descriptions of two men who partied with teen
- Crews scour exact spot where mystery ‘grainy figure’ was seen
- Tenerife cops plan TV appeal as they hunt for clues
- Pals blast conspiracy theorists and TikTok sleuths
- Jay’s mum says she’s ‘barely slept’
He is one of several Brits who have vanished on the vast island.
Kevin Ainley, also from Lancashire, disappeared 20 years ago this month.
The 24-year-old had been working in the tourist area Playa de las Americas.
On the day of his disappearance, Kevin went to bars with friends before having dinner.
He was last seen walking towards the Sportsman bar and when he failed to show up for work, his friends raised the alarm.
No trace of Kevin has ever been found, and his personal belongings and passport were found at his apartment.
Meanwhile, Peter Wilson, 34, was found dead almost two years after he vanished.
The dad-of-two took one wrong turn on his way home from a night out at Playa de las Americas.
He was last seen close to where a taxi dropped him off.
Search crews failed to find Peter, and his heartbroken family often travelled to the island in a desperate bid to find him.
His body was eventually discovered almost two years later and it was revealed he had fallen down a steep drop.
But Ricky D’Cotta, who disappeared in 1987, has never been found.
The 23-year-old, from London, went to the island that March for the club scene and found work in one of the pubs.
He phoned his family in the October to tell them he’d be home soon – but was never heard from again.
Ricky’s passport and bag were handed in to police shortly after he vanished.
His best friend claimed he was killed after a robbery went wrong.
DNA testing was done on five bodies found on the island, but all proved inconclusive.
The whereabouts of Billy Bennett also remain unknown to this day.
The 18-year-old vanished in December 1985 after going to Tenerife alone when his friend dropped out of the trip.
His pal later went to the island with his girlfriend, but said he only saw Billy a handful of times.
He claimed on one occasion Billy seemed “worse for wear” and had lost all his money and had no where to stay.
Billy was last seen on December 1, and has not been found since.
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “nothing untoward there”
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire cops offer to help with the search but Tenerife authorities say they are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”
Search turns to 22,000ft ravine in Masca – part of an area dubbed “the badlands” by locals
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins with sniffer dogs, cops, mountain rescue and firefighters again taking to the hills in northern Tenerife
Possible new sighting of Jay places him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although unconfirmed by police
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Cops focus their search around small outbuildings in de Teno park near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
The GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy surpasses £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay appearing to fall and stumble back up at a rave before he vanished
MONDAY 24
Search for Jay enters eighth day
Police expand search area north to parts of Buenavista del Norte
Jay’s dad says his family are in ‘a living hell’
TUESDAY 25
Brit hiker found by Jay search teams says he ‘didn’t need to be saved’
Madeleine McCann cop lands in Tenerife to join search
Tenerife cops call in reinforcements from Madrid – including specialist sniffer dogs
WEDNESDAY 26
Locals claim they have spotted Jay watching Euros
Investigator reveals descriptions of two men Jay partied with
Cops scour exact spot where ‘mystery grainy figure’ was seen