On the morning of October 2nd, a concerning event unfolded at Miyazaki Airport in Miyazaki City, Japan, as part of the runway collapsed. The airport was closed before 8 AM local time, leading to a suspension of all flights while emergency services began assessing the situation.
According to NHK, a section of the runway connecting to the taxiway experienced partial subsidence, prompting airport officials to reach out to emergency response teams for assistance. Once the situation was identified, personnel in the airport vicinity were evacuated. Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries.
Footage from NHK cameras revealed visible damage to the taxiway around 9 AM, showing signs of subsidence and uneven asphalt in the surrounding area.
Local police reported hearing sounds resembling explosions, which led emergency services to launch a thorough investigation on-site.
Kosuke Kato, head of the airport office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, confirmed that around 8 AM, tower personnel noticed the subsidence on the taxiway, which was accompanied by explosive sounds and thick smoke. He indicated that officials are currently working to identify the cause of this incident, and the timeline for reopening the runway remains undetermined.
Reports suggest that local police suspect the explosion might have been linked to an unexploded bomb. This area has a history of such findings, as Miyazaki Airport was built on a former naval base during World War II.
Immediately following the incident, the airport was closed, stopping all flight operations. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion, and the explosion site was noted to have a diameter of about 7 meters and a depth of approximately 1.2 meters.
By around 8:10 AM, the Miyazaki City Fire Department had received reports of explosions within the airport grounds, though there have been no reported injuries so far.
The region surrounding Miyazaki Airport has seen several discoveries of unexploded bombs in previous years. Notably, in January 2009, one was found near the airport’s construction site, followed by the recovery of a 50-kilogram unexploded bomb in June 2011 and a 250-kilogram device later that November. These munitions are believed to be remnants dropped by US forces during World War II, as the airport was originally established as the Japanese Navy’s Akie Base in 1943.
