TOKYO (AFP) – Japan will sweep regional airports for more unexploded ordnance after a bomb dropped by the United States (US) in World War II blew up on a taxiway in the south, the country’s transport minister said yesterday.
The 250-kilogramme device blew up on Wednesday at Miyazaki airport – a former base for kamikaze suicide pilots during the war – shortly after a passenger jet taxied past.
Footage obtained by AFP showed a plume of soil blasting at least 10 metres into the air, with the explosion leaving behind a crater several metres across.
No one was injured but flights were suspended until the evening.
Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito told a briefing yesterday that he had “ordered the magnetic search at Miyazaki airport” and other airports. The search will initially focus on airports in the regional commercial hubs of Sendai, Fukuoka and Naha, according to national broadcaster NHK.
