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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'MCC-Modi's Code of Campaigning': Cong's dig at EC
New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the assembly polls schedule announcement by the Election Commission, the Congress on Sunday took a swipe, saying since 2014 the MCC has come to stand for "Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies."
The opposition party also claimed that the poll schedule announcement "would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches".
The Congress frequently uses the term 'G2' to take swipes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who are both from Gujarat.
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In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM today. It would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches."
"The Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will soon come into effect. But since 2014 this has come to stand for Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies," Ramesh said.
The MCC is a set of conventions agreed upon by all stakeholders during the elections. Its objective is to keep campaigning, polling and counting orderly, clean and peaceful and check any abuse of state machinery and finances by the party in power.
The Election Commission will announce dates for assembly polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry on Sunday evening.
The terms of these legislative assemblies are ending on different dates in May and June.
Final electoral rolls of the four states and the Union territory of Puducherry have been published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list.
