
Ian Payne 4am - 7am
3 July 2024, 18:29 | Updated: 3 July 2024, 20:11
The father of missing teenager Jay Slater has spoken out after spending two hours hiking through the ravine where his son's phone last 'pinged' more than two weeks ago.
The 19-year-old has been missing in Tenerife since June 17.
Mr Slater has revealed he is "baffled" by the disappearance.
"Why did two grown men take a young boy to a valley to a bed and breakfast?" he said.
He said: "You just don't disappear. It's just ridiculous that somebody can just disappear.
"He's a young boy, he's fit. He's fitter than us all put together. He's played football all his life, he's fit as a flea.
"You just don't disappear. I don't know... it's just a mystery... it's baffling."
The father of the 19-year-old from Lancashire spoke just hours after it was claimed Jay was scared when leaving the remote holiday rental in the village of Masca - 20 miles from his accommodation.
He allegedly told pals he couldn't return to it.
Read more: Inside the Tenerife Airbnb where missing teenager Jay Slater stayed before going missing
Jay Slater from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to the Canary Islands for a weekend music festival with two friends when he disappeared late on the night of June 16.
He was attending the 'New Rave Generation' (NRG) festival, but chose to stay behind with a group of strangers he had met instead of returning to where he was staying.
After weeks of Spanish police hunting for the teen, his mother confirmed on Tuesday that the land search had been called off.Debbie Duncan said "words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing".
She thanked the Guardia Civil, who she said had "worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay's last phone call was traced".