LONGVIEW, Wash. — Crews resumed the grim search Wednesday for nine people presumed killed at a Washington state paper mill where a chemical tank ruptured a day earlier in one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in years.
The likely death toll rose to 11, including the missing, after another person who was injured died, authorities said Wednesday.
Authorities said there was no hope of finding more survivors following Tuesday's tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, which also injured another eight people, including a firefighter who was treated and released by a hospital.
If the 11 deaths are confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the U.S. in recent decades — alongside a series of blasts that killed 16 people at an explosives plant in Tennessee last fall; a fire and detonation that killed 14 people at a fertilizer plant in Texas in 2013; the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 people in 2010; and an explosion at a West Virginia coal mine that killed 29 people in 2010.
Officials said Wednesday that the paper mill tank spilled more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of “white liquor,” a highly destructive chemical mixture used in paper manufacturing.
After delaying the search over concerns that the tank might collapse further, crews determined it contained less liquid than initially thought and that the tank was stable enough to resume efforts to find the missing. Fire officials said the search will be slow and methodical.
“We do not know where all nine are," said Scott Goldstein, a Cowlitz County fire chief.
Authorities said the rupture hasn't affected the safety of the air and drinking water in Longview, a Columbia River city of about 40,000 people with long ties to the Washington and Oregon paper and lumber industries. But they did say some of the contamination reached the river and that testing was ongoing. They also warned residents to keep away from ditches and dikes.
It was the second notable issue with a chemical tank in days on the West Coast, following the evacuation of thousands of Southern California residents due to an overheated tank at an aerospace plant before those orders were lifted Tuesday night.
The paper mill tank could hold about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) and was more than half full when it ruptured, Goldstein said. White liquor, which is made mostly of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, is used with heat to break down wood to make kraft paper, a durable material used in packaging, shopping bags and other products.
The sprawling plant, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, and cartons. It sits along the river next to other timber, paper and chemical businesses.
Paper mill worker was always there to help, friend says
The rupture happened at shift change Tuesday morning, causing the huge circular tank to buckle on one side. The cause remained unclear.
Authorities haven't released the names of the dead or missing, but some have begun to trickle out.
Todd Cornwell said his friend, Gilbert Bernal, was an electrician at the plant and was the first confirmed death. They knew each other through church and were in the same Bible study group, he said.
“We actually had our group last night and instead of doing Bible study, we talked about him,” Cornwell said. “He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done. When the local church school started flooding, he was one of the people there.”
Brian Williquette, a chemical supplier for the region’s mills, was at the plant Tuesday morning when he heard an alarm over the intercom and first wondered if it was drill. He was able to get out safely and didn’t see any of the damage.
“It’s just unfathomable,” he said at a community vigil Tuesday. “There’s not anybody that lives here that doesn’t know somebody at a paper mill.”
Crystal Moldenhauer, a Longview resident, said she has friends at the plant who remained unaccounted for. She said people called and texted each other all day trying to figure out what happened.
“We’re all still waiting for answers,” she said. “There’s families that have been torn apart, and we don’t know why.”
Authorities press for answers about the rupture
Nippon Paper Group in a statement said Wednesday that it was offering its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”
Some of those who were injured suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.
Following the tank's rupture, the liquid spilled into a drainage ditch, said Brittny Goodsell, a state Ecology Department spokesperson.
Almost every industry uses chemical tanks like this and they are generally quite safe, said Stephen Kmiotek, a chemical engineering professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. But it’s important that companies keep up proper maintenance and inspections, particularly after the tanks get older, he said.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board on Wednesday announced an investigation. Its chairperson, Steve Owens, said the goal was to “determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again.”
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Associated Press reporters Gene Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord New Hampshire, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.
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