A Tampa-bound flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday morning after a suspicious package was discovered in a bin in one of the lavatories, but security officials later declared the alert a false alarm after finding an adult diaper.
Copa Airlines flight CM393 took off from Panama City bound for Florida at around 9:45 am on Friday but was forced to quickly turn around and return to Tocumen International Airport just 30 minutes later after the potential ‘improvised explosive device’ was discovered’.
Upon landing, the Boeing 737 aircraft with 144 passengers and crew onboard was sent to an isolated area of the airfield where security teams were waiting to carry out a search of the plane.
José Castro, the airport’s head of security, said that a sweep of the plane confirmed that there was nothing suspicious onboard but that an adult diaper in the lavatory bin had prompted the security alert.
“We had it on a secure runway where police special explosives canine units and special forces examined the object, and found it to be an adult diaper, ruling out any risk,” Castro was quoted as saying by AFP.
After the security alert was stood down, the plane was allowed to continue onto Tampa, departing at around 3 pm local time and arriving in Florida nearly five hours late.
Anyone watch DIary of a Wimpy Kid, Roderick Rules? The name of Roderick’s band was “Exploding Diaper”.