87 flights at Miyazaki Airport in southern Japan were canceled after the detonation of a huge bomb used against kamikaze attacks.
Japan's Miyazaki Airport has been closed after a 227-kilogram World War II bomb exploded near the runway. 87 flights had to be cancelled. This is reported by Reuters.
According to a representative of Japan's Ministry of Transport, Miyazaki Airport closed its runway because a sinkhole seven meters wide and one meter deep formed nearby.
A bomb disposal team from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces later determined that the blast was caused by an American bomb that had been buried underground after a military airstrike and remained there for nearly 80 years, the official said.
According to the local television company MRT, there were no casualties, but live camera footage shows that two minutes before the explosion, a plane flew nearby.
The closure of the runway has led to the cancellation of 87 flights, but there is no danger of further explosions and repair work to eliminate the sprinkler should be completed by Thursday morning, Japan's chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
Miyazaki Airport, located on the southeastern tip of the island of Kyushu, was the base of the Japanese fleet until the end of World War II, from where hundreds of young kamikaze pilots set off on their last missions, according to the Miyazaki city website.
A representative of the Ministry of Transport said that several unexploded bombs had been found at Miyazaki Airport earlier.
Although nearly 80 years have passed since the end of World War II, unexploded bombs from intense air strikes are still found all over Japan today. During 2023, a total of 2348 bombs weighing 37,5 tons were disposed of, the Self-Defense Forces reported.