A runway at an airport in southwestern Japan reopened on Wednesday evening following an early morning explosion that damaged a section of its taxiway. No one was injured.
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and others investigating the site have determined that an unexploded bomb went off. It was apparently a 250-kilogram explosive that had been dropped by the US military during World War Two.
The transport ministry office at Miyazaki Airport says a blast was heard on the taxiway shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Air traffic controllers saw smoke rising from the site.
Images from a camera installed at the Civil Aviation College adjacent to the airport show the surface of the taxiway appearing to suddenly blow up. The blast sent fragments of the pavement and dust clouds into the air.
The airport office says the hole made by the blast was oval-shaped, measured about 7 meters long and 4 meters wide and was about one meter deep.
Airlines canceled more than 80 flights to and from Miyazaki Airport.
Several minutes before the blast, a Japan Airlines passenger jet carrying 93 people took off from the runway after passing through the taxiway.
Unexploded bombs dropped by US forces during World War Two have often been found at the airport.