- Services at 3.01pm tweeted: A plane has landed in water two miles off coast
- It retracted minutes: 'It's not an airplane, it's a big tugboat pulling a ship'
- Error comes as the search for flight MH370 plane continues
- Today is also the anniversary of the worst aviation disaster in history, in Tenerife, also in the Canary Islands, when 583 people died in 1977
Emergency services in the Canary Islands have been ridiculed after mistaking a shipping vessel in the sea for a crashed plane.
The services tweeted at 3.01pm that a plane had landed in the water two miles off the coast of Jinamar in Gran Canaria. Shortly afterwards, international news agency Reuters reported the official announcement, with the news then featuring on the BBC, Sky News and other news outlets.
At 3.09pm, the service's Twitter account announced the mistake. Shortly afterwards, Reuters reported that a 'big tugboat pulling a ship' had been mistaken for an aeroplane by the services.
These are the tweets sent by the emergency services in the Canary Islands. The first tweet, announcing that a plane had crashed into the sea two miles off the coast of Gran Canaria, was sent at 3.01pm today
The tug which apparently caused the false alarm on a plane crash at Gran Canaria in the Canaries, off the La Garita area
In English, the first tweet, at 3.01pm, read: 'Canaries air control has confirmed that a plane has fallen into the sea two miles off the coast of Gran Canaria near Jinamar. The number of passengers is not known.'
At 3.09pm, it said: 'With regards to the potential plane accident, SAR, air and helicopter control, has confirmed that it is a tugboat pulling a boarding area.'
And at 3.18pm, the account tweeted: 'Assistance which is flying over the area on the coast of Gran Canaria have confirmed that there has been no plane accident. It is a tugboat with a boarding area.'
The error comes as the search for the flight MH370 plane, travelling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, goes on.
Today is also the anniversary of a crash between two planes in the Canary Islands.
On March 27, 1977, 583 people died in the biggest disaster in aviation history when two Boeing 747 passenger planes collided at Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife.
'It's not an airplane, it's a big tugboat pulling a ship,' a spokeswoman for the Canary Island emergency services told Reuters shortly after it had raised the false alarm.
Photographs believed to show the shipping vessel have been circulating on social media this afternoon.
This photograph, which has circulated on Twitter this afternoon, is believed to show the shipping vessel in the sea off the coast of Gran CanariA
This photograph shows the scene of what is believed to have been the world's worst aviation disaster, which took place on this day in 1977 in Tenerife, also in the Canary Islands
While many have expressed relief at the fact the plane crash turned out to be a false alarm, others have taken to Twitter to ridicule the area's emergency services.
Sky News presenter Kay Burley tweeted: 'Canary Islands emergency services mistook a ship for a crashed airliner... #ShouldHaveGoneToSpecSavers'.
Meanwhile, photographer Bette Lynch said: 'Stand down on Canary Islands plane crash. Staff mistook boat for plane. Little clean of the glasses needed perhaps?'
While many ridiculed the Canary Islands emergency services, others were just relieved they were mistaken
Jane Witherspoon also questioned the eyesight of the emergency services staff
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