PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -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 on X, formerly Twitter.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft had been isolated from other planes when it landed back at Panama City's international airport at 10:59 a.m. local time (1559 GMT) following the bomb scare, Panama's aviation authority said in a post on X.
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.
Panama City's international airport, where 17 commercial airlines operate, did not reply to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Elida Moreno; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
