Wednesday, October 2, 2024 A 500-pound bomb dropped by the U.S. forces on Japan during World War II exploded unexpectedly beneath an airport runway on Tuesday after being buried for around 80 years.
The explosion damaged a taxiway at the Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan, causing 87 flights to be canceled, a news portal reported. No injuries were reported after the explosion, which was caught on video and posted to social media. The video shows that the bomb exploded far away from any aircraft, but according to a local broadcaster, an airplane had been taxiing near the area just two minutes before the bomb exploded.
An investigation by Japanese authorities confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound U.S. bomb that was dropped on the airfield, which was built in 1943 to train Imperial Japan’s kamikaze pilots during World War II.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said that numerous unexploded bombs dropped from U.S. warplanes have been discovered near the airport.
After the war, the U.S. helped remove thousands of unexploded bombs in Japan, but experts predict that it could take another 100 years for all of the bombs from World War II to be disposed of just in the Okinawa Prefecture.
Near the end of the war, Okinawa was pounded with around 200,000 tons of bombs, according to NHK World Japan. An estimated 10,000 tons of those bombs were unexploded. Repairs to fill the crater are expected to be completed by Thursday morning, said Japan’s top government spokesperson, .
