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SAN JOSE – Eighty passengers and five crew members were held aboard a United Airlines jet for three hours after a man reportedly stood up in mid-flight and spilled a substance that later turned out to be confetti from a greeting card. 

Police, FBI and emergency crews met the plane at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday and set up a decontamination tent for the passengers of United Airlines Flight 1669 from Chicago. Passengers who noticed the envelopes contents apparently became alarmed, fearing it could have been a toxic agent, according to. 

“The substance being found in the airplane appears to be nothing more than confetti that spilled out of a greeting card,” said FBI spokesman Andrew Black. “Now we have an airplane on the runway with 80 plus passengers who are not very happy right now.” 

The man’s identity and nationality were not released, but Black said he is a longtime San Francisco Bay area resident. 

Someone aboard the plane told a crew member the man had dispersed the powder into the air vent system, setting emergency crews in motion in San Jose where the plane was destined. Once the plane arrived, fire department personnel took air samples from inside the United Airlines Airbus 319 craft to determine if any toxic agents were present, said San Jose Police Department Rubens Dalaison. 

They also played it extra safe with the man who spilled the confetti. Fire department personnel boarded the plane, took the man off, stripped him of his clothing, washed him down with detergent and dressed him in a hazardous materials suit that prevents vapors from passing out of it. 

San Jose Fire Department battalion chief Kevin Conant said his department has been busy responding to numerous calls of mysterious powders. 

“We’ve investigated everything from beach sand to baking powder to confetti,” Conant said. “We’re taking all these incidents seriously. We’ll send all the resources required and investigate it as a credible threat.” 

The man who spilled the confetti and the witness who noticed it and reported it to the plane’s crew were questioned by police. Some passengers said Americans are getting a little too jumpy when it comes to anthrax scares. 

“I think people are paranoid. I think false calls are being made,” said Angela Johnson, one of the passengers who sat for hours aboard Flight 1669. 

The incident came as anthrax scares spread throughout the United States. In Boca Raton, Fla., five more tabloid employees at the American Media Inc. building tested positive for exposure to anthrax, a company spokesman announced Saturday. 

At Washington’s Dulles International Airport, a spokeswoman said a powdery substance found in a restroom on a United Airlines plane from London was being tested at an Army laboratory in Maryland. 

Spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said the flight was met Saturday by a hazardous materials team and FBI agents, who determined that 17 people out of 216 passengers and 14 crew members had used the bathroom. 

The 17 passengers were detained and preliminary decontamination steps were taken on them, which Hamilton said consisted for most part of washing their hands.