Japan to sweep airports after WWII bomb blast

AFP | Tokyo, Japan

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Japan will sweep regional airports for more unexploded ordnance after a bomb dropped by the United States in World War II blew up on a taxiway in the south, the country’s transport minister said yesterday.

The 250 - kilogram (550-pound) device blew up on Wednesday at Miyazaki airport -- a former base for “kamikaze” suicide pilots during the war -- shortly after a passenger jet taxied past.

Footage obtained by AFP showed a plume of soil blasting at least 10 metres (30 feet) into the air, with the explosion leaving behind a crater several metres across.

No one was injured but flights were suspended until the evening.

Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito told a briefing on Friday that he had “ordered the magnetic search at Miyazaki airport” and other airports.