Flights were canceled after a bomb exploded at the airport in Japan after World War II.

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A World War II bomb exploded under an airport in Japan on Wednesday, canceling more than 80 flights. The explosion left a large crater on the taxiway, but remarkably there was no aircraft nearby and no injuries were reported.

CBS News The bomb reportedly exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan. Officials of the Ministry of Land and Transport said that the investigation determined that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound US bomb and that they were still trying to determine what caused the sudden explosion. Built in 1943, the airfield originally served as a flight training area where kamikaze pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy launched suicide missions.

Video recorded virtually from the aviation school captured the moment the bomb exploded and pieces of asphalt flew into the air.

Other images show the approximate size of the taxiway crater, which is reported to be more than seven meters in diameter and around three meters deep.

A fire department spokesman said they “received a call from the airport at 7:59am regarding an incident involving smoke.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the airport hoped to resume operations on Thursday morning. “There is no danger of a second explosion, and police and fire crews are currently examining the scene,” Hayashi said. he said.

Unexploded bombs are unfortunately quite common in Japan, as hundreds of tons of explosives dropped by the US military during World War II remain buried to this day. Most often they are excavated on construction sites. In Japan alone, 2,348 bombs weighing a total of 41 tons were destroyed in the 2023 fiscal year.

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