Washington Chemical Plant Accident Leaves 11 Dead As Recovery Crews Recover All Bodies
Recovery crews find all missing workers after a chemical tank rupture in Washington state kills 11 people.
Recovery crews find all missing workers after a chemical tank rupture in Washington state kills 11 people.
Recovery crews have recovered the bodies of all nine workers reported missing after a chemical tank rupture at a paper manufacturing facility in Washington state, raising the death toll to 11, authorities said on Saturday.
Two deaths were confirmed shortly after the accident on Tuesday at a facility operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview. The remaining nine victims were located during a multi-day search and recovery operation conducted by emergency crews.
The incident occurred when a storage tank containing white liquor, a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in paper pulp production, imploded at the plant. Authorities said the tank held about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million litres) of the substance.
Search teams spent several days clearing debris inside the facility and using drones to inspect affected areas around the site. Officials confirmed that all missing workers have now been accounted for.
Environmental testing found that some contamination entered the nearby Columbia River following the rupture. However, authorities said monitoring has detected no adverse effects on air quality or on the drinking water supply in the city of Longview.
Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Industries, the country’s second-largest paper manufacturer by sales. The company acquired the Longview plant from timber producer Weyerhaeuser for $225 million and established the subsidiary in 2016.
Investigations into the cause of the tank failure are ongoing.
