Bedfordshire climber Paul Arnott joins search in Tenerife

An adventurer and mountaineer says “being a decent human” has motivated him to travel to Tenerife to help the search for missing teenager Jay Slater.

Paul Arnott, 29, from Flitwick in Bedfordshire, cancelled a charity fundraiser to fly to the island and join the search and rescue operation on Saturday.

Mr Arnott said: “I know these environments, I know how harsh they are and how scary they are without experience.”

“You have to be the best person you can be,” he added.

“I spend all my time in the mountains, I’ve assisted search and rescue in Scotland before, it’s what I do.”

Warren Slater, the father of the missing teenager, described on Monday how he was experiencing “a living hell”, as the search for his son in Tenerife entered a second week.

He appealed for help from the local community in Santiago del Teide, where the family went after an unconfirmed report of a possible local sighting.

“Somebody must know something,” he told reporters. “I just want him to be found. End of.”

Mr Arnott said he had joined the search every day since arriving and would not leave until the teenager was found.

“Drones and helicopters are good but they don’t pick up everything,” he added.

“You’re going to be looking at the most hazardous areas such as ravines and areas [where] there’s potential for rock falls.”

Mr Arnott was due to take part in a 500-mile fundraising walk for Scottish Mountain Rescue before he heard the call for help in the search.

When asked why he flew to the island to join the operation, he said: “It’s just being a decent human person, somebody needs help you go help them. I like to think somebody would do the same for me”.

“I do not cope well in hot countries, it makes me sick, but it’s got to be done.

“I’ll stay here until we find him.”