Officials say rescue hopes have faded for missing workers
A chemical tank holding nearly 3.4 million litres of a highly corrosive liquid imploded at a Washington state paper mill Tuesday, killing at least two workers and leaving nine others missing with no hope of survival, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
The rupture occurred at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview during a shift change Tuesday morning, causing the large circular tank to buckle on one side. Eight additional people were injured, some suffering burns or inhalation injuries, including a firefighter who was treated and released. The cause remained unclear as of Wednesday, CBC News reported.
Cowlitz County fire chief Scott Goldstein said during a Tuesday evening news conference that the situation had become a recovery effort, AP News reported. “At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,” he said. On Wednesday, Goldstein confirmed crews had resumed the search but cautioned: “We do not know where all nine are.”
Officials said the tank spilled more than 1.9 million litres of a chemical mixture known as “white liquor,” composed mainly of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, into a drainage ditch, according to state Ecology Department spokesperson Brittny Goodsell. Some contamination reached the Columbia River, though the US Environmental Protection Agency reported no observed effects on the waterway. Authorities warned residents to stay away from nearby ditches and dikes.
If all 11 deaths are confirmed, it would rank among the deadliest industrial accidents in the United States in recent decades, according to CBC News.
Todd Cornwell identified his friend Gilbert Bernal – an electrician at the plant – as the first confirmed fatality. “He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done,” Cornwell said.
Brian Williquette, a chemical supplier who was present at the plant when the alarm sounded Tuesday morning, described the scale of the tragedy to CBC News. “It’s just unfathomable,” he said. “There’s not anybody that lives here that doesn’t know somebody at a paper mill.”
Nippon Paper Group, the Japanese parent company of Nippon Dynawave, offered its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families” in a statement. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board announced a formal investigation the same day.
The facility employs about 1,000 people and has operated since 1953.
