Body Identified as Teen Who Got Lost on Island Hike

UK's Jay Slater went missing on one of the Canary Islands in Spain
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 16, 2024 8:59 AM CDT
Body Identified as Teen Who Got Lost on Island Hike
Jay Slater, in an undated family photo.   (Family Handout/LBT Global via AP)

A British teen who was missing for nearly a month on the Spanish island of Tenerife likely died from injuries suffered in a fall in rocky terrain, a court in Spain said Tuesday. Jay Slater, 19, was identified through fingerprints the day after his remains were discovered in a rugged area near his last known location on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, said the High Court of Justice, per the AP. Spanish authorities, family members, friends, and volunteers spent weeks searching for Slater after he apparently got lost trying to walk from one corner of the island to another. The journey from Masca, a village in the northwest, to where he had been staying in Los Cristianos in the south, would have taken about 11 hours on foot.

Slater frantically called a friend, Lucy Law, that morning and said he was "lost in the mountains, he wasn't aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink, and his phone was on 1%," she said. His body was found Monday by the Spanish Civil Guard in a steep and inaccessible area. It was near the last known location of his mobile phone, said LBT Global, a charity that supported Slater's family.

Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle in northwest England, had attended a music festival the day before his disappearance. Law said on Instagram that Slater was "always the happiest and most smiley person in the room" and would be missed "more than you know." "I'm sure you'll 'have your dancing shoes polished and ready' waiting for us all," Law wrote. "We all love you buddy. Fly high." (More missing person stories.)

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