Spiral Staircase memorial, Tenerife

On 27th March 2007, the 30th Anniversary of the Tenerife Disaster, Tenerife paid homage to the victims of the accident at Los Rodeos by erecting De Wenteltrap (Spiral Staircase) memorial on the Mesa Mota mountain in La Laguna, Tenerife, overlooking the airport and site of the disaster.

Families of those who died, as well as survivors of the tragedy and members of the island's authorities, celebrated a memorial service at the Auditorio de Tenerife.

Karen Tafuri, who lost her mother, Jeanne Wilder, in the crash, spoke of her experience, in representation of victims from the United States. While, Jan Groenewoud, President of the Foundation for families of the victims, remembered the seven people - among them, both of his parents and two sisters - that he lost on that date.

It was also revealed yesterday, that the Dutch artist, Rudi van de Wint, who designed the over 18 metres tall monument, seen above, sadly died shortly after completing it.
Air Traffic Controller speaks to the media for the first time

Fernando Azcúnaga, who was one of the three controllers on duty in the tower at Los Rodeos on that fateful day in 1977, has spoken to the media for the first time in these 30 years. Previously, he had refused to speak publicly, but finally conceded on the request of his wife. The full text of an interview appears (in Spanish) in La Opinión, where Azcúnaga talks of his frustration at not having been able to do anything.

Now 71 and retired in 2000, Azcúnaga is married and father of four children (one of whom died in a traffic accident). He now lives in Tegueste, in the north of Tenerife and runs a parquet flooring company. Although he considers himself a strong person, Azcúnaga tells how the disaster changed his character and how he felt very saddened. "It was not my fault, but I was implicated.", he says. The accident still moves him enormously and it is something he carries in his heart.

The insurance companies, he adds, harassed him a lot in the aftermath of the crash. "There were a load of insurance companies and the easiest for them would be to put the blame on the controller so that everything would be paid by the Spanish Government", he says. (In 1977, ATC was still handled by the military in Spain.)

He has also spoken out about the rumour, reported on various occasions and included in certain documentaries, that the controllers were listening to a football match on the radio. This, Azcúnaga considers absurd. For one thing, Air Traffic Controllers work with headphones on, secondly, there is the evidence that in none of the tapes is there any sound of a goal or anything of the like.

Fernando Azcúnaga Aaransay: "Fue muy frustrante no poder hacer nada"

Runway Safety Debated on Anniversary of Deadly Crash

Meanwhile yesterday, Robert Bragg, former Pan American World Airlines co-pilot, spoke to the National Transportation Safety Board Tuesday at a safety forum in Washington, D.C., to recall the moment when his 747 was taxiing at Los Rodeos Airport and a KLM jumbo jet came barrelling down the runway for its takeoff.

Tenerife will certainly never forget this disaster.