Officials removed passengers on Copa Airlines aircraft bound for Florida and identified diaper as cause after emergency inspection.
A Copa Airlines aircraft bound for Tampa, Florida, from Panama City turned back following a suspected bomb threat and the 144 passengers on board were disembarked, but the scare turned out to be a false alarm, authorities said on Friday.
Officials carried out an emergency inspection of the aircraft, and identified a disposable diaper for adults as the object that prompted the scare, the Central American country’s police said.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft had been isolated from other planes when it landed back at Panama City’s international airport at 10.59am local time following the bomb scare, Panama’s aviation authority said in a post on X.
Luego de una alerta por el @aacivilpty, de un objeto extraño en una aerolínea las unidades de Fuerzas Especiales activaron el protocolo de emergencia y al ser verificado resultó ser un pañal desechable de adulto. #Prevención pic.twitter.com/n3pBqQZki9
— Policía Nacional (@ProtegeryServir) October 13, 2023
Passengers have begun boarding the aircraft to resume their travel to Tampa, Copa Airlines said in a statement later, adding that authorities have ruled out any type of threat.