Six of the nine workers missing after the Nippon Dynawave paper mill disaster in Longview were recovered Thursday and confirmed dead, pushing the death toll from the nippon dynawave explosion to eight. Three other workers remain missing and are presumed dead after a 900,000-gallon tank of white liquor imploded at the plant on 3401 Industrial Way just after 7:15 a.m. Tuesday during a shift change.
One worker died at the scene and another died after being taken to a hospital. Eight others, including a firefighter, were injured and taken to area hospitals for treatment, with some being treated at the Oregon Burn Center. Gov. Bob Ferguson on Wednesday called it “the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.”
The six recovered bodies were found near the employee breakroom area. Officials said the remains will undergo decontamination before they are transported to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office for identification and family notification. Soldiers and airmen from the Washington National Guard’s 10th Homeland Response Force joined the recovery effort to help with decontamination.
Recovery work was slowed at first by safety concerns about the structural integrity of the damaged tank. Investigators initially believed about 90,000 gallons of chemical product could still be inside, but an inspection later found about 25,000 gallons remained and the tank was stable enough for crews to continue. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said it will begin an investigation into the implosion.
State and federal environmental crews were also dealing with the spill itself. On Wednesday, officials said some of the chemical had made its way into the Columbia River, and the Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were monitoring air and water quality. County crews are flushing contaminated water with supplies drawn from the Cowlitz River and fire hydrants, aiming to move the white-liquor water away from residential areas and the city’s water supply before it is diluted enough to be safely discharged into the Columbia River.
Officials repeatedly said there was no danger to the surrounding community, but they urged people to stay alert for strange smells or liquids, especially in culverts or other low-lying areas. For Longview, the task now is no longer just recovery from the blast itself. It is the slower work of finding the last missing workers, identifying the dead and tracing how a tank inside a paper mill failed so violently in the first place.
