An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II detonated at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan on Wednesday (October 2), causing a large crater in a taxiway but no injuries, according to Japanese officials. The explosion led to the cancellation of more than 80 flights.
The bomb, weighing 500 pounds, had been buried at the airport, and its sudden detonation is currently under investigation by the Self-Defense Forces and police. The blast sent pieces of asphalt into the air and left a crater reportedly about 7 yards in diameter and 3 feet deep, as shown in a video recorded by a nearby aviation school and broadcast on Japanese television.
Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy flight training field, from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide attack missions. A number of unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. military during World War II have been unearthed in the area, Defense Ministry officials said. Hundreds of tons of unexploded bombs from the war remain buried around Japan and are sometimes dug up at construction sites.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced that more than 80 flights had been canceled at the airport, which hopes to resume operations on Thursday morning. There were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded, according to Land and Transport Ministry officials.
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