Surveying expert Brian Harrison, 57, who is a resident of Tenerife, said that the Barranco de Masca trail is a treacherous route, especially when hikers veer off the beaten path
Jay Slater: Police search Los Carrizales Valley
An expert has shared how Jay Slater could still be alive if he found access to water along a treacherous hiking trail in Tenerife.
Brian Harrison, a British ex-pat living in Tenerife, believes Jay, 19, could have taken the Masca Gorge Trail, a popular hiking route. The surveying expert, 57, says the route, known locally as Barranco de Masca, can be extremely perilous if hikers diverge from the path. But he added that the area also has dozens of narrow aqueducts and waterfalls meaning Jay could have found access to water.
He said: “Logic suggests that if Jay did get lost, maybe he was heading down towards the ocean. It’s feasible he has taken the Masca Gorge Trail and has fallen and injured himself. There are some sheer drops along the route, there is danger. If he’s fallen it is feasibly possible that he’s got some water from somewhere, meaning he could still be alive, it’s a possibility.”
Mr Harrison, who is also the Secretary General of the Tenerife Ecological Association, added: “The area has lots of aqueducts that farmers use to feed their goats and there’s a waterfall down there.”
It comes after the founder and president of an influential Spanish missing persons association urged Jay Slater’s parents to be patient, and said the search for him is in the best hands.
The teenager’s dad Warren Slater has expressed his frustration about being kept in the dark about any leads or clues Tenerife police are following over and above the visible search in mountains near the village of Masca where he was last seen on June 17.
But Joaquin Amills, who founded SOS Desaparecidos more than two decades ago following the disappearance of his own son, said today they could place their trust in the Civil Guard because it was a “top” police force and silence was “good” because it meant they were working hard behind the scenes to discover what happened.
Mr Amills, whose non-profit association has advised the families of many of Spain’s most high-profile cases including the mother of two girls killed by their father Tomas Gimeno in April 2021 in Tenerife in a case that shocked the world, said: “If I had Jay’s family in front of me I would tell them to confide in the Civil Guard because it’s a professional force and for me one of the best there is in Europe and they empathise fully with the pain families like this missing lad feel.
“I would also tell them that the more silence there is from the Civil Guard, the more they’re working. That’s always the case. Thirdly for the security of the investigation itself which is also in the interest of the family, it’s normal for the Civil Guard not to pass on any information unless it feels it’s strictly necessary and relevant to do so when a particular line of investigation has been exhausted.
“But when the investigation is ongoing and moreover is in its early stages, the Civil Guard do the right thing by not saying anything. That’s frustrating for the family of course because this family being a foreign family won’t have been aware of how things work in Spain.
“But I would tell them that when it comes to missing people investigations, Spain’s police forces are very well prepared. I have no doubt about the capacities of the Civil Guard in this case and I’m speaking as the father of a boy who disappeared 16 years ago whose disappearance has been investigated by the Civil Guard.
“There’s not a crystal ball that tells us there’s a set time for the resolution of a case, 24 hours or two weeks or two years or never. The important thing is not looking at what might happen in the future if this goes on for years, but that the family live in the present.”
