Suspected American World War II bomb explodes at Japan airport, causing huge crater on taxiway

An unexploded American bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded on Wednesday, causing a large crater on a taxiway and canceling more than 80 flights. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, Japanese officials said. The Associated Press reported.

Ministry of Land and Transport officials said there were no planes nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki airport in southwestern Japan. Authorities said an investigation by the Self-Defense Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound American bomb and that there was no further danger. They were determining what caused its sudden detonation.

Video recorded by a nearby flight school showed the explosion sending chunks of asphalt into the air like a fountain. Videos broadcast on Japanese television showed a crater on the taxiway, apparently about 7 meters in diameter and 3 feet deep.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights had been canceled at the airport, which hopes to resume operations Thursday morning. Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy flight training ground from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide attack missions.

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Several unexploded bombs dropped by the US 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 across Japan and sometimes unearthed at construction sites.

(Edited by: Jerome Antonio)



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