On Wednesday morning (October 2), an unexploded American-made bomb from World War II suddenly detonated at a Japanese airport, creating a large crater on the taxiway and leading to the cancellation of more than eighty flights.
Authorities from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism stated that the explosion at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan did not cause any casualties or damage to aircraft. Initial investigations at the scene indicated that there was no risk of a secondary explosion.
According to officials at the Miyazaki Airport office of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the explosion occurred around 8 a.m. when air traffic controllers noticed smoke rising from the taxiway.
Just minutes before the explosion, a Japan Airlines plane with 93 passengers was taxiing on the affected taxiway and preparing for takeoff, narrowly avoiding the disaster.
The airport office reported that the explosion left an oval-shaped hole approximately 7 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 1 meter deep, with debris and other wreckage scattered within a radius of 200 meters.
During a press conference held at 4 p.m., the airport office announced, based on the findings of the Self-Defense Forces investigation, that the cause of the explosion was an unexploded bomb believed to be a 250-kilogram bomb dropped by the U.S. military during World War II.
Due to the closure of the runway, over eighty flights to and from Miyazaki Airport were canceled. The airport office later filled the sunken area and resumed operations at 7:30 p.m. that evening.
The following day, flight operations returned to normal starting from the first flight, with the exception of flights canceled by airlines due to aircraft rotation.
Miyazaki Airport is located on a site that was a Japanese Imperial Navy flight training field during World War II, subjected to intense bombing by the U.S. military. In 1954, it was converted into a civilian airport, operating domestic passenger flights to destinations such as Osaka.
In the past, several unexploded bombs have been discovered at Miyazaki Airport. In November 2011, a 250-kilogram unexploded bomb was found near the runway, leading to the closure of the airport for about 5 hours and the cancellation of 22 flights. In June 2021, a one-ton unexploded bomb without a detonator was found during apron construction.
According to data from the Joint Staff of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, a total of 2,348 unexploded bombs (approximately 37.5 tons) were dealt with nationwide last year. Between 2019 and 2022, more than 1,000 bombs were handled each year, with nearly half of them in Okinawa Prefecture. The discovery of unexploded bombs in residential areas is not uncommon.