Hanamaki: An airport in northeastern Japan was forced to temporarily close its runway on Wednesday after a bear was spotted running onto the tarmac as a plane was landing. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that Hanamaki Airport in Iwate Prefecture was temporarily closed after airport staff spotted a bear, believed to be a cub, around 1:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. Thailand time).
According to Thai News Agency, the runway reopened approximately 90 minutes later after a search by police and airport officials failed to locate the bear. This incident follows a similar event earlier this year when Yamagata Airport was temporarily closed in June after a bear was spotted running on the runway.