Missing Jay Slater's college issues statement as search to find teenager continues in Tenerife

The college where teenager Jay Slater was completing his apprenticeship has issued a statement. The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer vanished while on holiday with friends in Tenerife.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, was reported missing by his friends on Monday (June 17). He had flown out to holiday on the island with pals for the NRG music festival but disappeared after going to stay with people he met after a night out.

He last spoke to his friend Lucy at around 8am on Monday, telling her that his phone was going to die, he needed a drink of water and had no idea where he was. His phone location last 'pinged' in the Rural de Teno park, close to a popular hiking route and the village of Masca.

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A major search is continuing on the Spanish island, involving police dogs, mountain rescue teams and swathes of Jay's friends and family.

Accrington and Rossendale College, where Jay was completing his apprenticeship, has now issued a statement which read: "We are deeply concerned about the recent news regarding one of our apprentices, Jay Slater, who has gone missing while on holiday in Tenerife.

"The safety and wellbeing of our students are of utmost important to us, and our thoughts at this worrying time are with Jay’s family and friends."

A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife said officers were working to 'investigate all the possibilities'. She confirmed that a large-scale search operation was ongoing, with the search today being moved to tourist hotspots in the south of the island.