A World War II-era U.S.-made bomb exploded at a southwest airport Wednesday morning, reportedly closing a runway and canceling multiple flights.
The shell exploded without warning on a taxiway at Miyazaki Airport around 8 a.m., leaving a crater about 23 feet wide and just over 3 feet deep, Japan's Kyodo News reported. reported.
The Japanese military's explosive ordnance disposal unit investigated the scene, the paper added. No injuries were reported. Local fire and police departments were also dispatched, and police issued local evacuation orders.
a explosion video Documents obtained by Kyodo News from the nearby Aviation University showed black debris shooting into the sky and damaged sections of the tarmac. The newspaper said the plane had passed nearby just two minutes earlier.
According to Kyodo News, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo that the bomb was a US-made weapon.
The bomb, weighing approximately 500 pounds, was buried under the taxiway. According to CBS News. (Related article: Huge unexploded bomb from World War II found at riverbed due to extreme drought)
Airport authorities have canceled more than 80 flights, but there is no threat of a second explosion and the airport can resume operations on Thursday morning, Lin added.
Airline counters at airports had to deal with long lines of travelers. Shun Akahori, a businessman from Osaka, told Kyodo News, “I changed to another flight, but that one was also canceled, so I decided to extend my stay after consulting with my company. ” he said.
According to Kyodo News, Miyazaki Airport was once an air base for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and during World War II, it was home to “kamikaze” (meaning “wind of God” in Japanese), or suicide attack pilots. It was the place.
Two unexploded bombs were discovered at the airport in 2011 and another in 2021, demonstrating the airport's history with World War II-era unexploded ordnance.
Japan still discovers unexploded ordnance from heavy air strikes during the 1939-1945 war, Reuters reported. The Japanese military reportedly disposed of 2,348 bombs weighing approximately 41.3 tons in fiscal 2023.
