World War II bomb explodes at busy international airport, cratering taxiway

A U.S. World War II-era bomb buried beneath a busy Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, cratering a busy taxiway and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights, officials said.

According to Land and Transport Ministry officials, no planes were nearby and no injuries were reported when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki airport in southwest Japan.

An aerial view taken from a helicopter shows a crater from an explosion after a bomb possibly dating from World War II exploded on a taxiway at Miyazaki Airport in southwest Japan. (Kyodo via Reuters)

Investigators determined the explosion came from a 500-pound World War II-era bomb, although the cause of the sudden detonation was unclear.

Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy pilot training ground, from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide bombing missions.

Video recorded by a nearby aviation school showed the explosion spewing chunks of asphalt into the air like a fountain. Videos broadcast on Japanese television showed a crater in the taxiway about 20 feet in diameter and about 3 feet deep.

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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said more than 80 flights had been canceled at the international airport, which hopes to resume operations Thursday morning.

This photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows part of a damaged taxiway at Miyazaki Airport in southwest Japan on Wednesday after an explosion was reported. (Kyodo News via AP)

A number of unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. military during World War II have been discovered in the area, Defense Department officials said.

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Hundreds of tons of unexploded bombs from the war remain buried across Japan and are sometimes unearthed at construction sites.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.