Japan’s Miyazaki Airport reopens after dud shell blast on taxiway

TOKYO, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan resumed operations Thursday morning, a day after its closure due to the explosion of a wartime dud shell that damaged a section of its taxiway, local media reported.
A Japan Airlines plane to Fukuoka departed at around 7:40 a.m. local time in the first flight since the airport was shut for safety checks on Wednesday, Kyodo News reported.
The transport ministry office at Miyazaki Airport said Wednesday that a blast was heard on a taxiway shortly before 8 a.m. local time as air traffic controllers saw smoke rising from the site.
The airport office said the explosion created an oval-shaped hole measuring about 7 meters long, 4 meters wide and 1 meter deep on asphalt pavement near the taxiway.
No one was injured and a total of 87 flights to and from the airport were canceled as of 2 p.m. local time as the runway was closed for the day.
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and authorities investigating the site have determined that the explosion was from a 500-pound U.S. bomb that was dropped by the U.S. military during World War II. ■