The 67 year old World War II bomb that was discovered just over two weeks ago has finally been removed from its location near a runway at the Sendai Airport in Miyagi Prefecture. Officials say a bomb squad with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces defused the dud on Wednesday morning, and they then began the process of moving and transporting the 250 kilogram (55 pound) rusted explosive.
The airport was closed and over 30 flights were cancelled for Wednesday while the bomb removal took place. The airport was also closed immediately after the bomb was unearthed on October 29th, however, after experts inspected the explosive and troops built a huge mound of concrete and sandbags around it, flights resumed the next day. The Sendai Airport suffered extensive damage from the March 2011 tsunami, and has only recently re-opened. The bomb, clearly identified as being made in the U.S. during the WWII years, was dug up as part of some reconstruction work.
Cities all across Japan were heavily bombed by the U.S. during WWII, so finding buried ones that never exploded, even in Tokyo, is fairly common, and few injuries ever occur. Bomb experts were confident the one found at the airport would be no different, as long as it wasn’t moved, and flights only continued on the runway a greater distance from the bomb’s location.
[via The Republic]