A dud shell exploded on a taxiway at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan on Wednesday, forcing the closure of its runway, although no injuries were reported in the morning incident, authorities said.
Video footage from the Civil Aviation College, which uses the airport as a pilot training base, showed a black cloud of dust shooting up from the ground two minutes after an aircraft passed the site.
The transport ministry said its officials found a hole with a diameter of 7 meters and a depth of 1 meter on the taxiway after an explosion was heard around 8 a.m. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's explosive ordnance disposal unit investigated the site.
All flights to and from the airport were suspended from around 9 a.m., with airport authorities aiming to resume services from Thursday morning after filling the hole.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference in Tokyo that a U.S.-made bomb was the cause of the explosion.
Formerly an air base of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the airport has often been affected by discoveries of unexploded U.S. bombs from World War II. Two unexploded shells were found at the airport in 2011 and another in 2021.
Local firefighters said they received a report at around 8:10 a.m. that an explosion was heard. Police instructed airport personnel to evacuate the area.
Long lines formed at airline counters in the airport's lobby following the incident.
"I had switched to another flight but that too has been canceled, so I talked with my company and decided to extend my stay," said Shun Akahori, 28, from Osaka, who was visiting the prefecture for business.
The facility is some 5 kilometers from central Miyazaki, the capital of Miyazaki Prefecture, and serves domestic routes, including those to and from Tokyo's Haneda airport and Osaka airport, as well as international routes.
© KYODO
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WoodyLee
This is a daily event in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan, and Gaza. a reminder of how ugly our world was and still is.
kurisupisu
Are bombs really discovered ‘often’ at the airport?
Miyazaki airport is not the place to be…
garypen
*"...officials found a hole with a diameter of 7 meters and a depth of 1 m on a taxiway."*
Wow. That's pretty big. The photo doesn't do it justice.
リッチ
What poor airport construction if the land was not properly prepared in great detail. Whoever built it should be paying some serious fines as well as compensating travelers affected.
SeriouslyCreamy
a better photo showing the true size of the crater. According to Asahi Shimbun it was a "U.S.-made 500-pound bomb".
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15450024
Yubaru
Unexploded ordnance is still being found in France and other European countries from the Napoleonic wars. Not to mention WW1 and WW2.
Your assumption that the explosion was due to "poor airport construction" is so far off the mark it's ludicrous, and sounds like someone playing arm chair quarterback thinking they could do better!
UXO often buries itself deep into the earth, and with Japan constantly shaking, that UXO could have easily remained hidden from detectors, and managed to wriggle its way back to the surface over time.
Same thing has happened, without the explosion, but sometimes WITH it, down here in Okinawa. A few years back on a national highway construction project a front end loader hit some UXO and it went off, blowing the windows out of a elderly care facility, and taking the eye out of the shovel operator.
The construction of the Hwy was done with due diligence, but SOMETIMES things happen, and no matter how many fingers you point to find "blame" it's just an accident!
Get off the high horse!
4123
according to newspaper, unexploded U.S. bomb disposal in Japan are still over thousand times per year, over 7000 tons unexploded bombs are still under ground in Japan.
Neurozoo
Then it was not a dud if it exploded, the delay timer was just set to 79 years.