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I agree with this totally hence calling it a wild card option that comes with him not being found yet in the more likely areas. Far more likely though that he descended and carried on descending. If he was thirsty and hadn't passed any water then there is little incentive to retrace your steps...

Yes, you're absolutely spot-on with those three and the descriptions. From where he was seen and where he was pinged the Barranco de Masca is least likely as it would have required him turning back. Wild-card is if he turned back from his last known spot when it became clear the path was...

That really varies on resources and the area of the search. Most elements of search-and-rescue involve a volunteer element and the degree to which your non-volunteer staff can be dedicated. It's not practical to have a large group of full-time sitting around waiting for an incident and although...

Competent search and rescue teams (and I've seen nothing to suggest that the one involved here isn't) deploy systematic approach that starts out with the last known point and goes out in the most likely patterns from there checking off the areas you've searched. By this stage of a search you're...

Yes, there are 6 buses a day that pass through there going in the direction he needed to go. If he left the accommodation at 8am he'd have missed the earlier bus and the next one wasn't for around another hour and a half.

That's a definite possibility. He'd have needed to set off in a different direction and go down a different valley (Barranco de Masca) to the valley he's more likely to have ended up in. That would account for why he'd have continued pressing on after the initial trail ran out unaware that he...

Agree, this is off. Likewise with the 'bus every ten minutes' part. There are six buses per day in total from Masca.

Good post and really helpful photos. I think the concern is that - from where he was pinned as last being - that track leads down a steep-sided (and steep) valley where there aren’t any farms or buildings. If he'd gone down a parallel valley (Barranco de Masca) then there are a few buildings...

Agreed. IMO and experience (ex-Mtn Rescue), lost people are unwilling to retrace their steps especially when it involves going back up a steep hill as in this case. Not seen that many details of the search but it appears competent and methodical. Families will always naturally feel that you are...

There are a lot of prickly plants that grow wild on Tenerife (some native, some not). That does include cacti but also aloe Vera and others so I'm giving a bit of latitude as to what plant it was that may have caused a cut on his leg that he might have identified as a cactus. Certainly though...

His Stepfather (source - Manchester Evening News) claimed he'd gone back to the apartment with some people from London. Mentions they had 'cockney accents'. I've not seen that confirmed elsewhere. The village where that apartment is pretty seasonal. Some elderly all-year-round residents, others...

It's extremely mountainous terrain. Tenerife is a volcanic island the slopes are sheer, especially in that area. I've hiked a fair bit there (nearby although not in that exact area). It might be popular with hikers but that might still only mean a few people per week even on the more trafficed...

Absolutely. Which suggests a high-level of disorientation or that he's taken a route that's gone away from the road really quickly. As ex-mountain rescue (decades back) this makes it difficult for the search. You can surmise that he was on the move but without him knowing where he's going. The...

And that's one of the (many) odd things Also, the Snapchat photo was taken at 7.30am apparently inside the apartment where he'd stayed. By 8.15am he was calling his friend saying not only was he thirsty and lost but that "I can't go back, i don't know where I am" (source - Manchester Evening...

Absolutely. Reliable sighting? Phone has been pinged to suggest that the device, at least, is in that area?

Absolutely. Also unlikely he'd have done so without a sighting coming forward before now. Leads me to believe there is some concrete information- if the article is correct - to stand down an ongoing search and rescue operation in the inital area of focus.

Big development. Spanish Police have switched the search operation to the south of the island to the resort areas around Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-jay-slater-search-missing-33063057

It's somewhere in the Manchester Evening News Live commentary that's linked. Also in there, allegedly British which would explain why they might have told Jay that there was a bus service but that they wouldn't have known the frequency or when it went.

Apparently so and have been co-operative with enquiries.

Hopefully the police are keeping an open mind. I think the signs, especially the content of the phone call to his friend around 8.15am, the ping in an area that matches the vague details of where he said he was (or wasn't) does lead that he got lost walking back. Latest update (below, from...