Tank implosion kills worker, leaves nine feared dead

A massive chemical tank holding nearly a million gallons of “white liquor” imploded at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. paper mill in Longview, Washington, killing at least one worker and injuring nine others, with nine more feared dead and no hope for rescue,

LONGVIEW, Wash. — The shift ended with a sound no one wanted to imagine: a massive chemical tank imploding and collapsing at a Washington paper mill, followed by burns, inhalation injuries and a search that officials said offers no hope for rescue for nine missing workers.

At least one person was killed Tuesday when a tank holding nearly a million gallons of a highly corrosive liquid gave way at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview. Nine others were injured, some severely, and nine more were unaccounted for, authorities said. The cause of the implosion remained unclear.

“At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,” Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during a Tuesday evening news conference. Officials repeatedly described the situation as a recovery effort rather than a rescue operation.

That effort was scheduled to pause overnight and resume Wednesday morning. Emergency responders planned to begin by working on stabilizing the collapsed tank. which still held about 90. 000 gallons (more than 340. 000 liters) of “white liquor” inside. Goldstein said. Then they would search for the missing, he added.

White liquor remains inside even as responders plan their next steps, and officials said they would not work at night because there was a risk the tank could leak more caustic liquid and potentially collapse again.

“We don’t know until we know, hopefully tomorrow, how we can stabilize the tank. Do we remove the product first? Do we stabilize the tank first or the vice versa?” Goldstein said.

Authorities said some victims suffered burns or inhalation injuries, with the severity ranging from minor to critical. Among those injured was a responding firefighter.

During the news conference, Gov. Bob Ferguson, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez addressed those gathered. While officials spoke, the company did not.

Two upset parents who said their two sons worked at the plant interrupted at the end of the briefing. saying they hadn’t been contacted. After the conference, people waited outside the company’s visitor entrance earlier Tuesday seeking information about loved ones. They declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter.

At a nearby union hall serving as a family assistance center, three women shared a tearful embrace before going inside. Others arriving and leaving were also visibly shaken.

Nippon Dynawave’s mill is central to Longview, a city of about 38,000 on the Columbia River. The facility is a pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant that employs about 1,000 people and dates to 1953. It produces material used for tissues. printing paper. cups. plates. cartons and other goods. and sits in an industrial zone shared by other timber. paper and chemical businesses.

Goldstein pointed to the closeness of the workforce and the response.

“The people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work on site,” he said. “It is something that is impactful, and we have support networks to support the workers as well as the emergency responders.”

Officials initially reported the tank had a capacity of 80,000 gallons (303,000 liters). They later revised that figure, saying the tank was holding about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of white liquor. Goldstein and other officials described what that liquid is used for: it consists mainly of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. used with heat to break down wood to make kraft paper—a durable material used in packaging. shopping bags and other goods.

Too early to determine why the implosion happened, authorities said.

Mike Gorsuch. a battalion chief with the Longview fire department. said about 40 firefighters and paramedics responded Tuesday morning to what he described as a “mass casualty scene. ” along with a regional hazmat team. He said responders decontaminated patients and took them to hospitals in Longview and Vancouver, Washington.

Following the tank’s rupture, the white liquor spilled into a drainage ditch, according to Brittny Goodsell, a state Ecology Department spokesperson. The department sent a team to evaluate impacts.

Murray, speaking at the evening news conference, said the public would not be left in the dark.

“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened and I want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers to those questions,” she said. “This community deserves that.”

The Longview accident unfolded while thousands of residents of Southern California remained evacuated Tuesday due to a damaged chemical tank at an aerospace plant.

The incident also comes amid a history of health and safety citations for Nippon Dynawave. The company. a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group. has been fined a total of $3. 400 for three separate health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021. according to the department’s online database.

In one inspection, inspectors cited the company because face coverings were not worn by every employee when required. In another. an employee was cited for being exposed to the risk of falling while working on a platform more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) off the ground without fall protection measures in place. A third case involved equipment—an amputated finger—being moved from its original position before the state’s investigation into the accident was complete.

Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave on March 4 and May 6. The labor and industries department said on X that both complaints are unrelated to the current situation and remain open.

The March 4 complaint was an anonymous allegation about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank, according to the department, which said “it was not the tank that imploded.” The May 6 complaint involved a sinkhole created by a drain that failed.

The state labor and industries department did not tie those complaints to the implosion that injured workers and left nine feared dead.

Officials said they would continue operations in daylight hours, and Wednesday’s stabilization plan would shape the search timeline—starting with deciding whether responders must remove the product first or stabilize the tank before attempting to intervene any further.

In the background, environmental justice organizations had flagged hazardous incidents involving chemicals in recent years. A paper released by a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023 said just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a result of hazardous chemical incidents.

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