Death toll from Washington chemical disaster climbs to 8; more expected

The death toll from the explosion of a chemical tank in Washington state has risen to eight, officials said Thursday.

An industrial tank holding chemicals at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington, ruptured the morning of May 26, setting off what Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said was likely the deadliest industrial disaster in modern state history. The tank contained a nearly Olympic-sized swimming-pool amount of a caustic chemical known as “white liquor.”

One person was initially confirmed dead in connection with the incident. Another died from their injuries. On May 28, Longview Fire Department Chief Brad Hannig said responders recovered six bodies from inside the facility. 

Another three workers remain unaccounted for inside areas of the facility unsafe for emergency personnel to access. The three are presumed to be dead. The bodies must be decontaminated before being taken to the corner’s office, local authorities said. 

“For us, this continues to be incredibly difficult for all of us here and everyone involved,” Longview Fire Department Battalion Chief Matt Amos said at a news conference after recovering the six bodies. “This still continues to be a highly complex industrial hazard.”

Fire authorities said the incident happened during a shift change at the plant, catching many workers as they were in an employee break room. 

Seven workers were injured in the incident and hospitalized. Authorities did not have an immediate update to share on their conditions. A firefighter was also treated and released in connection with the incident.

As the investigation continues, community members await news about loved ones and answers about what went wrong at the paper mill and liquid packaging plant, which had a history of previous fires and alleged violations on its property. 

“First responders, emergency workers and nurses saw unspeakable horrors,” said U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washington. “We need to pull together to get the answers that we need here.”

Here’s what we know:

What happened at the paper plant?

An explosion at Nippon Dynawave happened at about 7:15 a.m. local time on May 26, the Longview Fire Department said. A tank containing hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals ruptured, spilling a substance called “white liquor” across the plant.

White liquor is caustic, authorities said, and is used in the production of paper products. About 550,000 gallons spilled out of the tank, said Scott Goldstein, a fire and rescue chief in Cowlitz County, Washington.

Because the chemicals and the tank were deemed unstable, responders couldn’t immediately access all the areas of the facility to search for additional victims, officials said. They planned to resume the search on May 27 after working to stabilize the tank.

Some of the spilled material contaminated the Columbia River and nearby ditches and dikes, officials said. Impacted water is being flushed through the Longview ditch system to draw it away from residential areas and the city’s water supply, where it will ultimately be diluted, the Washington Department of Ecology told USA TODAY in a statement.

Officials said there was no airborne contamination.

“There is currently no concern that drinking water supplies have been impacted. However, the longer the contaminated water remains in the ditch system, the greater the potential for it to contaminate the underlying aquifer,” the Ecology Department said.

Who are the victims?

Authorities have not released the identities of any of the killed, injured or missing victims. One firefighter was among the injured who was treated and released on the day of the explosion.

One of the two deceased victims was taken to a hospital for injuries and later died. Of the other injured, seven are facility workers, officials said. 

The nine missing people are all employees of the mill. 

Inspections, complaints at facility

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said it had two ongoing inspections open at Nippon Dynawave. One began in March after the department received an anonymous complaint about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank, not the same tank involved in the explosion, the department said. Another inspection opened earlier in May after a complaint about a sinkhole caused by a failed drain.

The facility was inspected by the department three other times in the last five years and was cited for violations unrelated to chemicals and storage. The violations were related to issues such as protection from falling or failure to wear face coverings, the Labor and Industries Department said.

The department also investigated the facility after an employee’s finger was amputated, local station KING 5 reported. Nippon Dynawave was cited for moving equipment involved before it could be inspected, but not for the incident itself, the news outlet reported.

Last August, a fire on Nippon Dynawave’s property destroyed a railway warehouse, the Longview Fire Department said at the time. The Patriot Rail’s Cowlitz County and Columbia Railway warehouse and locomotive repair shop building, where the fire originated, was a total loss.

In July 2023, firefighters battled a blaze on the property for four days after a conveyor belt fire spread to bark chip piles and structures, according to local fire and rescue officials.

USA TODAY previously reached out to Nippon Dynawave for comment.