A concourse at Miami International Airport was briefly evacuated on Monday after a luggage screener mistook an urn of human ashes and other suspicious items for a possible bomb, officials said.

Around 2,000 people were ordered out of the airport's concourse F, but allowed back in when the all-clear was given after an hour and a half, said an airport spokesman.

The false alert was partly triggered by what turned out to be a rectangular urn with human ashes, said Transport Security Administration spokeswoman Sari Koshetz.

"It wasn't just that. It was also other objects in the bag that looked suspicious," Koshetz said.