Adult diaper on Tampa flight causes bomb threat alert and emergency landing

The item mistaken for a bomb was found in the plane toilet.

A flight from Panama City to Florida was forced to make an emergency landing after a suspicious item, believed to be a bomb, was discovered in one of the plane’s bathrooms on Friday morning.

All 144 passengers on board the Copa Airlines flight were removed from the plane, which made a U-turn back to Tocumen International Airport, to allow an anti-explosives team to search the aircraft.

The Copa Airlines flight CM393 departed Panama City around 9.45am. Just 30 minutes later it performed an emergency return to the airport after what appeared to be a handmade explosive was discovered in one of the bathrooms.

Passengers were made to wait in an isolated part of the tarmac during the search, which took place around 11am local time, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter), by Panama’s Civil Aeronautics Authority.

After searching the Boeing 737-800, the team identified that the item was not a bomb but an adult diaper, according to airport security head, José Castro.

“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,” he said.

After identifying the object, officials allowed passengers to reboard and the flight departed around 3pm. The flight arrived in Florida, five hours later than anticipated.

Officials did not identify the diaper’s owner.

Even the threat of a bomb is taken very seriously in aviation, as one Australian man has discovered.

The 30-year-old Australian is facing charges in Singapore after reportedly making a bomb threat on a Scoot flight from Singapre to Perth on Thursday. The flight turned back to Singapore after the Australian allegedly made false threats to perform terrorist acts on the flight.

He is currently in police custody.