Chemical Tank Rupture at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. Kills Two, Leaves Nine Missing in Longview

A chemical tank rupture at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Washington, killed two people and left nine others missing and presumed dead as recovery began after a delay due to “safety concerns of the structural integrity of the damaged tank”.

The Longview fire department said one person transported to the hospital after the Tuesday morning disaster has died, and authorities said there is no hope of finding any additional survivors as the operation transitioned from rescue to recovery.

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The incident began when an industrial tank ruptured and released white liquor, a highly destructive chemical mixture used in the paper industry, and officials said the tank was holding about 600,000 gallons with some 25,000 gallons still in the tank and slowly leaking.

Investigators from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) were set to arrive on scene Wednesday after the federal agency announced it was launching an investigation into the fatal implosion.

At the same time, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said the event was expected to be the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern state history, while Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said there was “no belief that there’s rescues that need to be made.”

The Seattle Times reported that an employee at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility called 911 after multiple people in the plant had chemical burns and were missing, with the caller saying, “We need rescue units, Fire Department, everyone,” to a 911 dispatcher.

As recovery continued, Matt Amos of the Longview Fire Department said operations would be “slow, methodical and deliberate” and that recovered victims would undergo decontamination before being transported to the coroner.

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Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson directed the National Guard to assist with search and recovery in a contaminated environment and to help with decontamination, and he told residents of Longview, “we’ll be here as long as it takes”.

NBC News said the implosion happened around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Plant and that officials expected no survivors to be found, while the BBC said the scene “still remains active, and its extremely hazardous in the recovery environment”.

Officials also said there was no danger to the Longview City water supply and that there was no airborne contamination, even as a large volume of contaminants entered the Columbia River.

With the incident moving into recovery, officials said the CSB was opening an investigation “to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again,” and the BBC reported that recovery efforts were delayed overnight due to the risk of operating in the darkness.

The Guardian said European fashion retailers were facing fresh questions over supply chain oversight after a fire at a factory that supplied them killed at least 33 garment workers in Bangladesh, but in Washington the focus remained on the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility and the hazardous chemicals involved in the rupture.

In Longview, state agencies including the Washington state Department of Ecology and the US Environmental Protection Agency were overseeing operations to determine any environmental impacts, while the BBC said local drinking water and air quality remained unaffected.

The Seattle Times reported that once first responders finish their efforts, the state Department of Labor and Industries will begin an investigation, and it also said there is no wider health threat from the implosion, according to state Department of Ecology spokesperson Anna Izenman.

As recovery proceeds, the priority for responders is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with “the greatest dignity, care and respect as possible,” and the operation is expected to remain “slow, methodical and deliberate” as missing people are recovered and decontaminated before identification.