TOKYO: Flights resumed at a regional Japanese airport on Thursday (Oct 3) after an unexploded World War II US bomb blew up less than a minute after a passenger jet taxied past.
Miyazaki airport in southern Japan originated in 1943 as an imperial Japanese navy base, sending dozens of “kamikaze” aircraft on suicide missions.
Footage obtained by AFP showed a plume of earth blasting at least 10m into the air on the edge of a taxiway at the airport on the island of Kyushu.
The explosion, which blew a hole in the tarmac a few metres across, occurred just less than a minute after an aircraft rolled past towards a runway, footage showed.
There were no reports of injuries but dozens of flights were cancelled on Wednesday, affecting more than 3,400 passengers.
The Self-Defense Forces’ bomb disposal team investigated and concluded that it was a “US-made 250kg bomb”, an SDF spokesman told AFP.
Other unexploded US ordnance dropped were reportedly found in 2011 and 2021 in the airport, as well as at a nearby construction site in 2009.
