Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle Lancs., disappeared in a national park on Monday. Do YOU have any information on missing Jay? Contact tips@dailymail.co.ukThe mother of a British teenager who went missing after getting lost in a Tenerife national park yesterday said she is 'beside herself with worry' in her first comments since touching down in the Canary Islands today.
His phone location showed he was in a mountainous area of a national park some 10 hours' walk away from his accommodation - and he has not been seen since. Debbie also revealed she had received several prank calls from hidden numbers claiming they had taken her son and held him for ransom, describing the pranksters' jokes as 'sickening'.Jay is seen in this image shared to his friend Lucy's social media days before he disappeared
'I just think it was a question of him not knowing the island well enough because it was his first time here and being a bit disorientated when it came to distances and not realising it was a 10-hour walk from where he went missing to his holiday accommodation. 'I've been getting lots of prank calls. It's sickening. People ringing me and saying they've got Jay because he owes them money.
His phone then ran flat, with his last known location registered in the 'Rural de Teno' park, close to the PR-TF51 hiking trail above the small village of Masca. 'One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he's driven them back to his apartment and Jay has gone there not realising how far away it is.
Meanwhile back in Oswaldtwistle, Lancs., Jay's stepdad Andy Watson told how police officers knocked on their door in the early hours of the morning today to inform them of the teen's predicament.'When the police said ''the best thing you can do is get yourself out there'' we knew it was bad. This was his first holiday on his own.A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife today said the force was working hard to find Jay.
'Most of the people living here are elderly. There's probably only around 50 people who live here all year round and a lot of residents are on holiday at the moment.Eva Maria Gracia Herrera, mayoress of the municipality of Buenavista del Norte of which Masca forms a part, added: 'Local police employed by the town hall are assisting but it's the Guardia Civil that are leading this search and investigation and there's not a lot more I can say.