One person is confirmed dead and nine others are unaccounted for after a Washington state chemical implosion that has proven to be even larger than previously reported.
A vat containing around 900,000 gallons of toxic chemicals exploded at a paper mill in the town of Longview around 7 a.m. Tuesday, sending eight workers and one firefighter to the hospital — some with horrific burns, officials said.
“Officials can also confirm there are 9 employees who remain unaccounted for,” the Longview Fire Department said in a Tuesday evening update.
The vat — on a paper mill operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging — contained “white liquor,” a chemical combination of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and disodium carbonate.
Officials initially reported the vat held 80,000 gallons of the deadly chemical, but officials later confirmed it actually held more than ten times that amount.
Around 90,000 gallons remain inside the tank; the rest flooded out into the factory site.
“The site will continue to be monitored overnight, but recovery efforts will not resume until tomorrow due to ongoing safety concerns,” Longview officials said.
It was unclear if “recovery efforts” include search and rescue operations for the unaccounted-for employees. Longview officials did not immediately respond to The California Post’s request for clarification.
There is no immediate threat to the public, officials said. Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility is a paper mill with 550 employees that makes “around 280,000 tons of bleached liquid packaging paperboard, and wetlap and slush pulp” each year, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology.
The company says its products “are converted into 8 billion single-serve containers per year.”
A fire crew and hazmat team are on site at the mill “to mitigate the product and container involved.”
The implosion prompted a response from five fire engines, seven ambulances and the hazmat team. Residents were previously told to stay away from the site of the implosion.
A multi-day fire broke out at the same paper mill in 2023, according to KCBY.
The implosion comes as Orange County deals with an ongoing chemical tank crisis that forced thousands of residents to evacuate.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the county as a chemical tank containing thousands of gallons of methyl methacrylate uncontrollably heated up, before officials were able to halt the temperature climb.
A Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility employee told The Post that they had “no information” at that time to provide when contacted for comment.