Jay Slater's family vow to continue their 'desperate' search for missing British teenager in Tenerife - and call for more help from police as they reveal 'despair' at being told to 'sit tight'

Jay Slater's family have vowed to continue their 'desperate' search for the missing British teenager in Tenerife and have called on the police for more help.

The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer has not been seen since he went to a remote AirBnB at Masca, an hour from the party resort of Playa de las Americas on June 17, in the Parque Rural de Teno with two men.

Family members have 'revealed' their despair after police told them to 'sit tight' after calling off the official man hunt on June 30.

Mr Slater's uncle Glen Duncan, 41, said the family feels like they've been left on their own as they continue to conduct their own ad-hoc foot searches with small groups of volunteers.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Duncan said: 'So far we've just been in touch with the British consulate out here who have been saying it's still a live investigation, we have just got to sit tight.

'It's just adding to the despair really.'

Asked if the family wanted help from the force in the UK, he added: 'We would love that, it's just not as simple as that.'

Mr Duncan said the family hadn't given up hope and were going to continue searching for Mr Slater because 'otherwise you're just sitting in the apartment staring at the same four walls'.

Police and mountain rescue teams used dogs, drones and a helicopter during the 13 days they looked for Mr Slater before calling the search off on June 30.

After halting their own operation, the Guardia Civil said the family could bring in their own search and recuse teams to look for the missing teenager.

The investigation is still ongoing, police said, but they wouldn’t disclose their current lines of enquiry.

Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater's mother, provided an update on the search on a GoFundMe page set up to help find her son, which has now received more than £52,000 in donations.

Thanking the local volunteers, she said: 'We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and support we have received and would like to thank the local hiking group for all of their help planning the routes to find our Jay.'

Mr Slater's father Warren, 54, spent more than six hours yesterday searching a mountainside with the missing teenager's brother Zak, 24, in searing 25C temperatures as they continued their desperate hunt for him.

Last week MailOnline identified one of the men who drove Jay back to the Airbnb as convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, 31, but he has insisted the youngster 'arrived alive and left alive'.

Warren and Zak have been focusing their search on an area of the valley where Jay's phone last pinged and from where he sent his location to friend Lucy Mae Law, 19.

She said the last time she heard from him was at 8.50am on June 17 and he said 'his phone was down to one per cent, he was lost and thirsty' before the line went.

Warren said: 'I've been through 80% of that valley, so we went further along.

'We've driven and we've walked down the path at the next village, up the mountain there's a viewpoint that looks down, you can either follow the road, but we didn't, we parked up and walked down.'

Police say Jay walked up the hill from the village of Masca in the wrong direction, at 8.15am, after being told there was no bus back to his Paloma Beach hotel in Los Cristianos until 10am.

They believe he then left the road and took a remote path down into the desolate valley in the mistaken belief it was a short cut back. 

But sceptical Warren said: 'It doesn't make sense, he's either hid himself, but why would he hide himself? Or he's just ….?

'We've done the valley where his ping was, we've gone up the road to a vantage point, there's cliffs there and there's a valley and a village there.

'All I'm thinking is common sense, would you try and walk through there. Where we've been today you can see there's a hiker's path with proper stones.

'We've gone straight down, and you end up in the village.'

Warren described how they had also searched a derelict stone cottage halfway down the track where there were water bottles, empty tea bag boxes and women's clothes.

He said: 'I'd go into the first building you see. Ideal spot for shelter is that little cave isn't it, get a bit of shade, you're hung over, get your head down in there.

'The police are convinced that's where his last ping were. From the Airbnb, he's a fit lad, 25 minutes you can get to the top, to where the cafe is.

'If he's followed the road and been where we've been today, it's took him an hour and a half.

'Dozens of cars would have gone past him. We got here at 9am and the 10am bus passed us. And it would have passed him.

'I've been up here three weeks and I've never seen as many cars.

'We've been on two wild goose chases yesterday to abandoned buildings.'

Spanish police have said the investigation remains 'open' and they are 'pursuing all avenues' but refuse to disclose if they believe there as any third-party criminal involvement.