Specially trained dogs are arriving in Tenerife as the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater enters its ninth day.
Police confirmed to the BBC that new resources had been brought in to help find the 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.
The Guardia Civil, whose ground searches had concentrated on the area where his last mobile phone signal was traced, said their efforts “are not being scaled back”.
The sniffer dogs, which are specially trained to cover large areas were set to arrive from Madrid later, they said.
The mayor of Santiago de Tiede, where Mr Slater’s father has been putting up posters appealing for information about his son’s disappearance, has expressed his sympathy for the family.
Emilio Navarro said: “As a father, I understand. All our resources and means are being used to find him.”
The apprentice bricklayer was staying at an apartment in the north of the Spanish island with friends he had met at the NRG festival he had attended, but after missing the bus the following morning, he called a friend to tell her he was going to make the 10-hour walk back.
Mr Slater also told her he had 1% battery on his phone, he had “no idea” where he was and needed water.
On Monday, police cars were seen parked at the entrance to a mountain track in the Rural de Teno National Park, close to the location where Mr Slater’s phone last pinged.
Mr Slater’s father has been appealing for help from the local community in Santiago del Teide, where the family went after an unconfirmed report of a possible local sighting.
Warren Slater said somebody “must know something”.
“I just want him to be found. End of,” he added.
What we know so far
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16 June – Mr Slater attends the NRG music festival with friends at Papagayo nightclub in the tourist resort of Playa de las Americas in the south of the island
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17 June – Between 03:00 and 06:00 BST, he goes to stay in an apartment in the north of the island with people he met over the course of the night
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At about 07.30 Mr Slater posts a picture on Snapchat from the doorway of the property he stayed at overnight, tagged as being in Rural de Teno park
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At 08.30, he calls his friend, Lucy Law, telling her he had missed his bus, had cut his leg, was “lost in the mountains”, needed water and was about to run out of phone battery
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He is reported missing
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18 June – As police and mountain rescue teams search for him, Mr Slater’s family fly to the Spanish island
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20 June – The search returns to Rural de Teno park after a brief switch to Playa de las Americas. Emergency workers comb bushes, overgrown terrain, hillsides and rivers around the village of Masca
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22 June – Mr Slater’s mother issues a direct plea to her missing son on the sixth day of the hunt, saying: “We just need you home”
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23 June – Search teams narrow their efforts on small buildings close to where Mr Slater’s phone last pinged
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24 June – The search for Mr Slater enters an eighth day. Police cars are seen parked at the entrance to a mountain track near where the 19-year-old’s mobile phone was last traced
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Source Agencies
