US bomb from World War II explodes at Japanese airport, causing large crater in taxiway
An unexploded United States (US) bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded on Wednesday, October 2, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said.
Land and Transport Ministry officials stated there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan.
Officials said an investigation by the Self-Defence Forces and police confirmed that the explosion was caused by a 500-pound US bomb and there was no further danger. They were determining what caused its sudden detonation, news agency AP reported.
A video recorded by a nearby aviation school showed the blast spewing pieces of asphalt into the air like a fountain. Videos broadcast on Japanese television showed a crater in the taxiway reportedly about 7 meters in diameter and three-feet deep.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights had been cancelled at the airport, and hopes that services will be resumed on Thursday morning.
The Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy flight training field from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide attack missions.
A number of unexploded bombs dropped by the US military during World War II have been unearthed in the area, Defence Ministry officials said.
Hundreds of tonnes of unexploded bombs from the war remain buried around Japan and are sometimes dug up at construction sites.
🇺🇸🇯🇵 “Bomb dropped by U.S. in World War II explodes at airport in Japan, causing runway damage and cancellation of 80 flights” — CBS https://t.co/ChhuX9K469
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
