Memorial to air disaster victims
A 60ft monument is to stand as a permanent memorial to the 583 people who died when two jumbo jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos airport in the north of Tenerife 30 years ago.
In what is regarded as the biggest air disaster in civil aviation history, a Boeing 747 operated by the Dutch airline KLM began its take off while another 747 belonging to the American carrier Pan Am was still taxiing on the runway.
The airport was shrouded in fog that day, March 27, 1977, a contributing factor in the collision between the two aircraft.
All 248 passengers aboard the KLM plane perished, while just 61 of the 396 on board the Pan Am flight survived.
Ironically, neither flight was due to touch down in Tenerife that day but should have landed instead on the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria, where many of the passengers were due to board a cruise ship.
But a terrorist bombing on Gran Canaria resulted in the aircraft being diverted to Los Rodeos to sit out the threat.
As a result of the accident, sweeping changes were made to international airline regulations and to aircraft operational safety procedures.
Aviation authorities around the world introduced requirements for unambiguous standard phrases for dialogue between pilots and air traffic controllers, with greater emphasis placed on the use of English as a common working language.
On the 30th anniversary of the disaster this month, Spanish, Dutch and American surviving relatives will attend a memorial service, together with representatives of their respective governments, after which the commemorative steel sculpture will be officially unveiled.
The memorial takes the form of a spiral staircase and was designed by the Dutch artist Rudi van de Wint. It will be sited on Mesa Mota mountain in La Laguna, overlooking the scene of the disaster. The memorial service will be held in the Auditorio de Tenerife in the nearby island capital of Santa Cruz.