Police officers searching for missing British teenager Jay Slater have come to the recue of a “tired and disorientated” Scottish hiker who got stuck in a ravine.
The 51-year-old had got into difficulty in the same region of northwestern Tenerife where Mr Slater was last seen on Monday 17 June.
The Scottish hiker was reported missing by people in Los Carrizales in Buenavista del Norte after he left for a hike but did not return to the starting point for “several hours” on Friday, police said.
Officers added that he would not have managed to get out of the ravine “by his own means” due to the “difficulty and lack of communication” in the area where he was found.
Mr Slater, 19, had been holidaying with friends on the south of the Spanish island before he went back to a property in the northwestern mountain village of Masca in Buenavista del Norte on Sunday 16 June.
Teenager still missing
The apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, had travelled to the village with two people he met at the NRG music festival.
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The teenager told a friend over the phone the following morning that he had missed a bus trying to get from Masca to his holiday accommodation in the southern town of Los Cristianos.
During the short phone call he said he would walk instead – a journey that would take 11 hours on foot.
He also said he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.
Two days after the search for Mr Slater entered its second week, police in Buenavista del Norte said officers trying to locate the teenager were informed of the Scottish man who had not returned from a hike in the Asomada Canyon on Friday.
The force said in a statement: “Neighbours of the place, observed as said hiker entered from very early on through an area of difficult access not suitable for transit and after several hours passed without returning to the starting point, alerted the agents who were at those moments in the search for the missing young man, Jay Slater.
“Tired and disoriented he was located by the officers and rescue team who helped him get out of the ravine.”
The Asomada Canyon is roughly a 6km (3.7 mile) walk away from Masca.
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Family hopes CCTV image will help trace Slater
Mr Slater’s mother, father and brother have all flown to Tenerife to help with the search.
His father Warren Slater said on Monday that while some officers had been “brilliant”, he had been left frustrated at the lack of communication from others.
The family has also shared a blurry CCTV image of what they believe could be the missing teenager in a town nearby to Masca around 10 hours after he was first reported missing.
The last person to see Mr Slater was Masca resident Ofelia Medina Hernandez who spoke to the teenager at 8am on Monday 17 June.
Ms Hernandez said she told him a bus was due at 10am as he seemingly hoped to get back to his accommodation.
However, he set off walking – and she said she later drove past him as he was “walking fast”.
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Last week, photographs emerged showing the Tenerife property where Mr Slater had reportedly been before he went missing.
Rumours and conspiracy theories about his disappearance have since circulated online, with social media users speculating on platforms including TikTok and Facebook.
Some online sleuths have even travelled out to Tenerife to try and find Mr Slater.
