Jay Slater died after going missing in Tenerife
The family of Jay Slater, who disappeared while on holiday in Tenerife, has been told the likely cause of his death.
The 19-year-old vanished while on his first holiday abroad with friends in June. He was missing for weeks as his frantic family searched for him before his body was found in a ravine.
Prior to going missing, Jay went to a music festival with friends before heading to a remote Airbnb with two older men. After leaving the property the following morning, he set off back to his own accommodation but never made it.
After worried pals sounded the alarm, the hunt for Jay's whereabouts began, with mountain rescue teams scouring the rocky Rural de Teno park where his phone last pinged. The treacherous task of searching the dense vegetation and deep ravines was made even more perilous in changeable weather conditions that lurched from baking 30°C heat to thick mists, the Mirror reports.
Eventually, on July 15, Spanish police shared that a young man's body had been discovered in a ravine near a phone mast, along with Jay's clothes and possessions. Fingerprints confirmed it was indeed Jay, crushing any hopes loved ones had of finding the apprentice bricklayer alive.
Efforts then turned to determining how exactly Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, died, a task that proved difficult given that the body was 'very deteriorated', according to reports.
Now a preliminary autopsy has found that Jay likely died following 'a fall or plunge from height', with the pathologist finding that he had suffered several broken bones.
Those close to Jay have found some 'very small comfort' from the likelihood that his death had been instantaneous. After Jay was found, a Civil Guard spokesman stated at the time: "The body of the man located yesterday has been identified of that as Jay Slater through fingerprint comparison and identification.
The result of the preliminary autopsy points to the cause of death being a fall or plunge from height due to the broken bones he suffered."
Meanwhile, former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who assisted with the search, has shed some light on how easy it would have been to fall in such 'dangerous terrain. The sleuth, who previously worked on the case of Nicola Bulley, "The area where the body was found is around a 20-minute walk from the pin drop location.
"The terrain is rough and hazardous and having now seen the video of the search team on Monday morning and that the helicopter was in the same area on Sunday afternoon where the body was recovered, it is clear to see how treacherous and dangerous it is - a slip or loss of footing would prove fatal."
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