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.

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Dubai, Oct 2: The ICC has banned Sri Lanka player Praveen Jayawickrama from all cricket for one year, of which six months are suspended, after he admitted breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code, parent body said in a press release on Wednesday. The charges relate to international cricket and the Lanka Premier League.

Jayawickrama admitted to being in breach of the following provision under the Code:

Article 2.4.7 – Obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code.

As a result of the admission, Jayawickrama has accepted a sanction of a one-year period of ineligibility, of which the last six months are suspended.

The ICC Anti-Corruption Code and the complete decision (which has been redacted to protect the identities of the ICC’s witnesses and other third parties) can be found here.