At 1:15 PM on 27 March 1977 , a bomb planted by the Movement for the Independence and Autonomy of the Canaries Archipelago ( MPAIAC ) exploded in a florist 's shop on the terminal concourse . Fifteen minutes of warning was given to the airport authorities , who started to evacuate the building ; the inside of the terminal was damaged and eight people were injured , one seriously . A later telephone call claimed responsibility for the explosion and hinted that a second bomb had been planted somewhere in the terminal building ; the airport was closed and searched , necessitating the diversion of several incoming flights , including a number of large aircraft on long international flights , to Los Rodeos airport ( later named Tenerife North Airport ) on the nearby island of Tenerife . The resulting runway congestion on the small regional airport was a factor in the subsequent disaster at Los Rodeos , when just after 5:00 p.m. two Boeing 747s originally bound for Gran Canaria collided on the Los Rodeos runway , resulting in 583 deaths , the worst aviation accident in history
subsequent disaster
Tenerife airport disaster
Gran Canaria Airport