Search for missing 19‑year-old in Tenerife unveils lost tourist

Desperate searches for the missing 19-year-old have been ongoing for a week. Areas of the gorge in Tenerife, where Jay's phone last registered, are being scoured. Much to the surprise of the authorities during the search, another lost tourist was found. The man required urgent help.

Search teams combing the isolated park in Tenerife stumbled upon a Scottish tourist who had become lost in the mountainous terrain. This extraordinary discovery was made during the intensive search for 19-year-old Jay, who went missing over a week ago.

On Friday, the police searched the area around the Rural de Teno park and came across a 51-year-old Scottish tourist. The man got lost in a challenging area unsuitable for travelling. "Tired and disoriented, he was located by the agents and the rescue team who helped him get out of the ravine," the police reported.

Drones, sniffer dogs, and helicopters have been searching Rural de Teno park and its surroundings since 19-year-old Jay from the UK went missing in this area over a week ago. Most efforts have concentrated on the extremely challenging terrain of the Masca Gorge, where the teenager's phone made its last connection with a nearby cell tower at 8:50 AM on 17 June.

Jay made his last desperate phone call to his friend Lucy Law on Monday morning, informing her that he was lost in the middle of nowhere, without water, and with only one percent battery left on his phone.

Yesterday, the police expanded the search to the "vast" desert landscape north of where Jay was last seen. Civil Guard officers confirmed that searches are also being conducted along forest trails and paths north of the Rural de Teno park gorge.

Warren, the missing boy's father, broke down in an interview with The Sun, saying that his family is going through hell. "I just want him to be found. I just want my son back, end of. What more is there, it’s been a week now, a week of nothing. So somebody somewhere must’ve found out something. Somebody. It is a living hell, unless you’re going through it, you cannot explain. Please, please, please, if anybody knows anything, just come forward and help us. I don’t know if anything undertoward has happened to Jay. One minute, he was here; the next minute, he disappeared. I don’t believe he’s still in that mountain. The police have put every effort into finding him. It’s bleak and barren," Warren appealed.

The man has been putting up posters with his missing son's image in the village of Santiago del Teide. He also shared a picture from a CCTV camera that he believes could show Jay. In it, a mysterious figure walks past a church in Santiago del Teide last Monday around 6 PM - several hours after Jay was reported missing. The village is approximately 4 miles from Masca, where Jay disappeared a week ago.

The police have not yet confirmed the person's identity in the footage. However, Jay's mother hopes that the man who came forward saying he saw someone matching her son's description, sitting on a bench with two men in the same area, actually saw her missing son.