All flights from Miyazaki Airport in the southern region of Japan were canceled on Wednesday after reports of an explosion in the taxiway area that leads to the runway caused part of the pavement to collapse. The Ministry of Transport confirmed the incident, noting that the collapsed section was discovered earlier in the morning and that the runway was subsequently closed; no injuries were reported at that time.
Emergency responders say the alarm was received around 8:10 a.m. local time. Police directed airport personnel to evacuate the area. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces sent in an explosive ordnance disposal unit to help with the investigation.
The Ministry of Transport also reported a hole about seven meters in diameter and one meter deep on the taxiway. A video broadcast by NHK showed a portion of the taxiway leading to the runway that had peeled away, with chunks of asphalt scattered across the surface.
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The airport’s official website indicated that at least 26 departures and 25 arrivals had been canceled. Most of the affected services were domestic, with routes to major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, while only one international service remained listed as canceled or at risk, a flight bound for Seoul.
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In the Miyazaki area, the airport sits on land developed in 1943 on the site of a former Imperial Japanese Navy airfield. Local media recalled the presence of World War II bombs that have remained unexploded in the vicinity. In 2011, authorities discovered two bombs on a taxiway weighing 50 and 250 kilograms that are believed to have been dropped by American forces during the conflict, while in 2009 another explosive was found during nearby construction.
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