Bottle of lotion flagged at security prompts evacuation at Daytona Beach airport

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - On Tuesday morning, the Daytona Beach International Airport was evacuated because of a suspicious item found in a checked bag. 

The airport was given the all-clear and has since re-opened. It turns out that the suspicious item was a pump bottle of lotion.

It all started around 6:15 a.m., when many travelers were getting ready for the morning flight. TSA issued an immediate evacuation order for everyone, shutting down the airport. 

“They said something about a bomb,” Bryant West said. “So we’re out here waiting. 

For hours, hundreds of travelers waited for the all-clear. Thankfully, the item was just a bottle of lotion and the airport re-opened.

“Our bomb squad techs came out and determined that it was not a bomb at all,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. “It was a bottle of lotion. But from the x-ray machine – the way it looked – it looked like obviously some kind of explosive device.”

“Wow, last time it was an electric toothbrush,” West said. “So that’s comforting. But it’s better safe than sorry.”

For West though, the hours-long delay was enough to push back his trip. He has rebooked his flight for tomorrow.

Chitwood said this incident goes to show that TSA is doing their job. 

"The first and most important thing is passenger safety," Chitwood said. "Yeah, there's a little bit of inconvenience, but at the end of the day everybody knows they're boarding a plane where everything has been thoroughly scanned and checked. There's no weapons. There's no bombs."

The rest of Tuesday's flights on the board said they were on time.