Presumed death toll rises to 11 after Washington state paper mill tank rupture

operations on Tuesday, we have declared this incident *** transition from rescue to recovery as of this morning. We declared this incident *** transition from rescue to recovery as of this morning. As I outlined the evening, we had structural issues, safety concerns of some of the mechanical and industrial equipment on site. While we were talking to you yesterday afternoon, assessments were ongoing. Additional information was provided that started to address those concerns that continued this morning. Drone operations were done. Additional information was determined, and we began operations today. I want to make it clear. That based upon the entirety of the scene safety and the stability of our concerns is how we approach our incident here, not because of our staffing levels, nor of the personal protective equipment and the availability of that equipment. I talked last evening about roughly 90,000 gallons of product remaining in that tank. Further observation this morning from plant officials identified that that amount is at the most of roughly 25,000 gallons, and that the tank was stable in its position and alleviated the predominance of our concerns of the tank failing. We still have contingency plans in place and resources coming to work on the tank itself if we need to change to stabilizing and removing the tank. Environmental monitoring. Representatives from the Washington State Department of Ecology and the United States Environmental Protection Agency remain on scene assisting public health, public utilities, and our diking districts on the issues of environmental monitoring and mitigation operations. Throughout the evening last night, both fixed and portable air monitoring and water quality sampling was occurring. or the acidity level of *** liquid. Testing of water samples has confirmed contamination entered the Columbia River during the day here today. Additional evaluations are underway to better understand the scope and extent of that environmental impact. At this time there continue to be no identified negative health impacts to the city, to the surrounding air quality or the city of Longview’s drinking water system. The public is still asked to avoid. The road network here as different agencies and the large equipment are continuing to come to the scene, as well as the *** and ditches around this area. Signage was put up by our environmental partners last night that provides signing on site. Now I’m going to turn things over as with yours to Battalion Chief Matt Amos with the Longview Fire Department. Thank you, Chief. Uh my name’s Matt Amos, M *** T T *** M O S. I’m the Longview Fire Battalion Chief on site. Um recovery operations, recovery efforts began earlier today and they’ll continue to be slow, methodical, and deliberate. The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care, and respect as possible. As individuals are recovered from the site, they’ll undergo decontamination before being transported to the Cowlitz County coroner’s office for identification and family notification. The coroner’s office will release names and provide additional family information only after all individuals have been recovered, properly identified and family notifications are complete. The victim update as of this afternoon, 9 individuals remain unrecovered. 7 employees remain hospitalized with injuries. The firefighter that was injured during response has been released from the hospital and has follow-up appointments through the following days. Uh, we can also confirm that one individual transported from the scene on Tuesday, uh, succumbed from their injuries, uh, bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities, uh, to 2 of those transported. Uh, operational conditions, it still remains active and it’s extremely hazardous in the recovery environment. Recovery operations will continue as the conditions safely allow. It continues to be incredibly difficult for us on the incident and everybody that’s involved. We appreciate the professionalism of the responders’ work in this operation and the patience and support everyone has shown. At this time, I’d like to turn things over to our Governor Bob Ferguson. Thank you and thank you all for being here. I’d like to start by echoing our deep appreciation for the brave and important work of our first responders who are operating under extremely challenging circumstances, uh, and we appreciate their service during this really difficult time. We’re bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history. Uh, when you have *** tragedy of that scale, uh, the impacts on individuals, on families, and on communities is, uh, is profound. I want to extend my deepest condolences to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of *** loved one during this extraordinarily challenging time. This is *** resilient community. We have certainly seen that in the response to this tragedy. I certainly saw that last night at the vigil. And we’re going to need every ounce of that resiliency in the weeks, months, and years ahead. I also want to emphasize that the coordination between agencies and between governments is Very strong and we would expect nothing less, but I know when I see I see that level of cooperation that’s certainly happening here and I deeply appreciate everybody’s hard work to make sure we’re dealing with the challenges in front of us. I just want to write *** very brief update on state resources that are being deployed to assist. I’ll keep this very brief. Today we have 46 members of the Washington National Guard on site. That includes 10 civil support team members currently working to support the Department of Ecology on air monitoring. To reemphasize the results of that testing so far, which I think was mentioned before, but it bears repeating those results show no evidence of airborne contamination. We will of course continue to monitor over the coming days. We also have 20 members of the Homeland Response Force who will assist with decontamination. We have 8 members of fatality Search and Rescue to assist with recovery. We’re thankful to those members of the National Guard and to other members of the National Guard who are on site assisting in *** variety of ways. The Department of Health is also on site working with the local health department on *** public health assessment, and their mass fatality coordinator is assisting the coroner and area hospitals. The state Department of Ecology remains on site. They continue to test water quality and working with federal partners and the company to make *** plan to remove white liquor from the site. We have recovered approximately *** dozen carp from the dikes that have died. Elle and I will be meeting with injured workers and the families of those killed to help them understand and access the benefits that they are entitled to. Our state employment security department has activated its rapid response team and has reached out to both the company and the union that represents the workers here, the Association of Western Pipe and Paper Workers, to offer resources. Again, I just want to conclude by saying how much I appreciate. The tremendously coordinated efforts that are going on, the bravery of our first responders, and on behalf of the people of the state of Washington, I’ll just repeat what I said last night is the state is here and we’ll be here as long as it takes to support the families, support victims, support folks impacted by this tragedy for as long as it takes. We’re committed to that as all of our partners are. With that, I want to turn over to the congresswoman. Good afternoon. First responders, emergency workers. And nurses saw unthinkable horrors yesterday, and I am encouraged by how people are checking in on each other. We saw last night at the vigil and we’ve seen throughout today, we need to pull together to get the answers that we need here. If you’re not in *** trades family or *** mill family, it can be hard to understand how devastating an industrial accident like this is for *** mill town like Longview. Folks here have watched mill after mill close across the state. Always wondering if their plant or job is next. And today that fear has reached new heights as people wonder if this accident will be the last straw for *** viable mill and the first step towards closures. The mill workers I’ve talked to want full accountability. They want *** comprehensive, unbiased investigation into how this could have happened so the failures can be addressed. So we can have safe jobs. Come home to our families at night. And rebuild public trust. This is their lives. This is their land. This is their livelihoods. And the reality is we’ve watched. Financial interests have squeezed. All the grease out of the system and it starts *** death spiral layoffs. Some electeds parachute in and layer on more regulation as *** backstop, and companies struggle to keep up and invest in lawyers when we should have investment in infrastructure and mill equipment. And sometimes we see workers left holding the bag. Enduring more layoffs and forced into overtime, and we can’t be blind to these pressures as we look for answers. And we can’t look past the grief. It is so easy to look past the pain and suffering here and try to solve problems before we understand. The depth of loss here. And so I’m so grateful for the team here who’s remained doggedly focused on recovery and the safety and security of our land and our families and our community. As we endure an unthinkable tragedy. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Chief Goldstein and Amos. In opposite fashion to how we operated yours today, we’re going to operate questions from our left towards the right. Please identify your agency and your question. We will attempt to answer it and provide you *** response. Can you talk *** bit more about It’s I’ve heard contamination. Fish? So the question was talk about water quality, contamination in the public, and information about dead fish. So outlined in what we provided was there was *** release at the early part of the incident from the site to the Columbia River. Additional information is being worked to classify or quantify that. As we developed our incident today, we created an environmental group which is being head by City Public Works, which has all of our environmental agencies, meaning ecology, EPA, the Dying District, Public Works, and the other support agencies. Those folks have been made aware of that question and that concern and those reports in the dikes. We have what we stated *** moment ago, that concern and that remaining statement for all folks along industrial and then up the *** along Prudential and towards Memorial, stay out of those areas. *** key part of our activity this morning was the development of *** plan to treat. And to address the concerns of that remaining water in the ditches, I want to state what was provided by the diking district team. They turned off their pumps at roughly 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning at the request of the site personnel here when the incident started. So those pumps from the diking district have not been. Moving that material out of the dikes and further on. Bear with me. OK, I’m sorry, you’re fine. Devin Haskins with KGW News. Um, what happens with the 25,000 gallons that you guys think is still in the tank, and is anything on the ground hindering efforts to get closer? And do you guys see anything with the naked eye or through the drums of any recoveries? that are there that you just can’t get to. All right, I’m going to paraphrase your question for everybody else. It’s *** question about the remaining product in the tank and the concerns of that, as well as what do we see pertaining to the recovery of the plant and staff. The remainings roughly 25,000 gallons is contained in the tank is leaking slowly out of the tank, slower this morning than it was yesterday evening, and that has reduced our concern of the leak or the quantity of that tank. We believe and our information provides us that the amount of material in the tank remains on the opposite side of the tank from where the leak is. So that is what gives us *** factor of safety that we were able to operate today with folks and appropriate chemical protective equipment in that area. We did have folks from the Fire and Rescue hazmat as well as the National Guard folks in that area making continued assessment. We have identified that we will be seeking some additional capabilities to assist us in the recovery and *** couple of additional steps to ensure the safety of our folks. We will be working with that as soon as we’re leaving this press conference and continuing forward. I have the assurance and I am very confident in the support provided to us from the state as well as our federal partners. If we need something, we will get it to have the resources here. Thank you. I’m gonna go behind you. Thank you, Julia Lopez and Foxwell, uh, going off of that, will the Chemical Safety and Hazard Board investigation impact. So the question is, will the Chemical Safety Board’s actions impact the cleanup and recovery operations? I want to break that down into recovery. No. Recovery operations are primary. Chemical Safety Board’s needs will be identified, and this is the planning point posture that we took yesterday afternoon. The recovery will proceed as all steps needed to engage that recovery. Then the clean up and site recovery because again we’re breaking recovery into our victims and the staff here as well as in the site recovery. Then the site recovery will begin and that will be coordinated by our environmental agencies with the Chemical Safety Board’s contact. I’m Brandon Cairo 7, Elle and I posted about two inspections related to complaints yesterday. Are there any other inspections that you are aware of? What kind of records are you? So I don’t believe there’s anybody here. Would you like to? Joel Sachs, last name’s S *** C K S. I’m the director of the Department of Labor and Industries. And first, uh, on behalf of everyone in the agency, we want to express our condolences to everyone who lost someone in the, in the tragedy. There are *** number of open inspections and I can’t speak to them today. They will all, once they’re concluded, we will be able to release the information. We will also be conducting an investigation on the incident that occurred on Tuesday. Uh, Corwin Hake, Cairo News Radio, and, uh, Chief, I wanna just plainly ask something that may have been answered in various ways already, but we’ve heard that this was *** tank that contained or had *** capacity of 900,000 gallons and that now there are about 25,000 gallons left. Uh. What bluntly has happened to the other 875,000 gallons that may have been in that? So great question, and I appreciate it because yes we’ve talked about it in different pieces, but I’ll try to Bring that all back together in one point 900,000 gallon capacity. It was believed to be roughly 60% full at the time, so I’m going to say 600,000 gallons. When I stood here last evening and told you that there was roughly 90,000 gallons remaining, that was based upon our visual assessment on pictures that were taken at roughly 11:00 a.m. And the amount of side wall of the tank that was still visible, presuming the side wall of the tank, roughly 10% of that tank was still standing, thus 90,000 gallons. OK, indeed that talks about 500,000 gallons of product. And yes, we have utilized the figure that roughly 500,000 gallons of product left that tank from the time of the incident beginning to yesterday afternoon when we thought 90,000 gallons would remained, OK. Now today, last night and this morning we’re doing our assessment looking at that leak and we identified now roughly conservatively 25,000 gallons. So you would articulate and it would be fair to say that roughly 5500-570,000 gallons of product left the tank. The specifics of that will come as the root cause and the root factors are determined in the future. But that’s how we did our math and that’s how we did our risk calculations based upon what we knew, what was known, and what we saw. Is that helpful, sir? But based on that, you’re confident that there remains no risk to the community from the pill. The product that is left has been engaged on the facility as well as the components that we talked about with high pH levels in the components of the dikes across the street. Air monitoring has been established and there is no air or community-based risk, and I said earlier there’s no risk to the Longview City water supply. Thank you very much. B V K2 News. Can you clarify what parts of the Columbia River people should stay away from? I know you listed industrial and several streets like that. And also how did people go missing and what are emergency responders doing to keep themselves safe and to also recover those people? OK. Question was areas of the Columbia River, areas, question was how did people go missing and what are emergency responders doing to keep themselves safe. The component of the Columbia River is one that the Coast Guard has been here from the beginning with us, as well as our ecology and Environmental protection team. They are working those informations, but they have not provided anything to the unified command about concerns in the Columbia to avoid and areas to stay away. OK, I don’t have that information to share with you, ma’am. I, I, I don’t. I would tell you if I did. The areas that they’re speaking of to stay away from currently now are to the north on the industrial way from Washington Way to Prudential. Those are the parameters that we set to stay away from those, and those are the dikes, the ditches that’s part of the diking District Number 5. Where *** signage was put up. Now you asked part two. was related to how our responders keeping I’m sorry, Part two was about how did the people go missing. This was roughly 7:15 in the morning. This was *** shift change time. Shift change occurs at 7 a.m., so there were people in this area. This was an administrative workspace. This was *** break room space. There were operational spaces, so I would not say how they went missing. They were operating and they were in their workspaces when this blast occurred. OK, we had both 9 people injured and transported from the property, as well as the 9 unaccounted for. And then last question to your point. How do the responders keep themselves safe? I’ve outlined that it’s chemical protective equipment, the right safety gear. We have what we need. We do not have *** need or we do not have *** lack of equipment for that perspective. I want to be clear with that. And then additionally, we talk about air monitoring, water monitoring, liquid sampling of our folks and what we’re engaged with on site, and the emotional and the behavioral health of our staff. That is *** full spectrum that we’re supporting from there. Uh, Brian would speak on the phone. OK, Mr. Brian, would you like to Expand the question. Yeah, if I could. My name is Brian Wood, B R I *** N W 00 D, Director of Support Services for Nippon Dynamite Packaging. Our records show that our continuous monitoring for pH on our outfalls that go to the Columbia River showed spikes of high pH material at roughly the initial incident at 7:15 in the morning and then approximately 2 or 3 hours later, there were two spikes of high pH material that went from our plant site to the Columbia River. That information was reported to Ecology as required by our permit. Uh, you’ve also heard. Discussions about the material that transited our site via the storm drains, went to our north ditch along -432 and then from there went over to the Consolidated Dyking Improvement District ditch. We are working with the diking District and we are working with Ecology and EPA to address the issue over there, which will be *** matter likely of elementary neutralization. Heard *** question earlier about fish. The report we have is that some of the carp that reside in that ditch were affected by that high pH material. Thank you, Brian. If I may, on behalf of NDP and not to horn in on you, Chief, I appreciate you being here. On behalf of NDP, these are our people. We are focused on our people. We are focused on helping our responders find and recover those people. That is our focus today. We are profoundly grateful for the people behind me, for the responders and what they’ve done with us and for us, and we are profoundly grateful for the assistance and the cooperation of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers. They have been outstanding in their support to their members and their support to us. Finally, we will cooperate to the maximum extent that we can with the investigation. It is our duty and our obligation to do so. We look forward to *** full and complete investigation. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Brian, for that information. Indeed, we want to get the questions. I’m going to continue around. My goal is to be able to accomplish this in 10 more minutes. So go ahead, sir. Right with K2. Can either of you just Detail the recovery effort as best you can and perhaps *** timeline. Respect. The recovery effort. So the question is detail the recovery efforts as best as we can and provide *** timeline for that. I’m going to outline that this was *** blast. We’ve used the word explosion. We’ve used the word implosion. I’ve also used the word failure. Indeed, there was *** rupture, *** failure, *** blast. All of those to us mean the same. It’s not why it happened, it’s the damage that we observed, OK. Vehicles are damaged. Buildings are damaged. Mechanical equipment is damaged, collapsed, and failed. So that is what we see in the environmental area there, part of which was one of the pictures we released yesterday afternoon. As we go through that, we have structural concerns we talked about those today that those were identified, addressed, and have been limited or mitigated. We still have the concerns of. The workers and where they’re at and how we can access that. The other component is, and I outlined earlier, waist deep to chest deep water. Our teams this morning have observed that water being lower. Today than it was when they were in there and we do have plans and we will engage plans at the appropriate time to continue to pump that water out so that we have access to all of those areas. Otherwise, I can’t provide you *** timeline. Chief Amos was out there running the operations today in what we call the courtyard group, and our focus is to receive all 9 and bring them back. We will do that as expeditiously as we can, and when we’re done, we will provide that information. Stephen Oy can can you on some, I have *** question for Governor Ferguson. Governor, you talked about attending *** vigil last night, *** couple 100 people. First responders as well, what are some of the stories you took away from the community members, so the question of folks here is about the vigil last night and kind of what was my takeaway from that from conversations. I think what I would say is, and many folks here were obviously there last night, is um, The scale and scope of the tragedy, um, you know, I think I mentioned. You know this is certainly to be the Deadliest industrial. Tragedy in modern state history. You know, anytime you’re talking about something of that scale and scope, the impacts are profound. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to who I work with, um, who have some connection to somebody who Lost their life here and obviously for folks who live here and and and this is their home. It’s, you know, in *** moment like that, it’s hard to capture the emotions which are, you know, which, which are, which run pretty deep. That said, I, I, I felt what I referred to earlier, *** resiliency there, um, of folks coming together, um, regardless of background differences, you know, uh, that was certainly something I heard from just about everybody I spoke to is, is, is that sentiment as well. So that’s, I think that’s the best I can to put that into words for that question. Thank you. All right. Joey Bocker 0.6 you mentioned the break room, you mentioned *** shift change. Are you able to give more context as to where the people that are still unaccounted for were in relation to the tank when it ruptured? And also, was this captured on any on-site surveillance camera? And if so, will that be released at any point? Question is in relation to the identification of *** break room and the maintenance area and the staff area, where were the folks there and in relation to the blast? That is information that has been collected and is part of our amassing our plan. It is one that still is developing. Some of our information has come from some of the co-workers that have been transported. But that is again the natural work space for these staff and that’s where they were at that shift time and I’m sorry, what was the second part? Was this captured on any onsite surveillance and will that be released? Thank you. I’m sorry about that. No, there was no, the complex has *** very robust video system, but this was not captured as we are aware of on any recorded video information at this time, OK. Hi, Joe Sullivan with the Seattle Times. *** two-part question. Number one, to clarify, the 9 unaccounted for, do you know their locations in the site and what additional equipment do you need to go retrieve them? Second part of the question is, I know there was some talk last night about some PPE that failed on your officers or was damaged. As they were coming out, we also heard reports that *** hospital may have gotten contaminated by the waste because they weren’t prepared for proper. Did the PPE you have, was it up to the job for an accident of this magnitude? So it’s *** two part question. I’ll take the first part. Matt, take the PPE part. We do not know where all 9 are. Through accountability with the Nippon staff, we know 9 individuals are missing. We have searched the area, the area that is searchable. We do not have the ability to state that we have located all 9, nor the ability to state where those 9 were, as I had in one of my prior questions, information that we still work through. Yeah, as far as regarding PPE, our initial responders in the structural firefighting gear that we wear. The only issues that we experienced was some damage to our boots. We have impacts to our, our firefighting equipment, but we have local resources that are actually coming to our sites, to our fire departments to collect those sets of PPE to be either decontaminated after we decontaminated them on site as best we could. And they will do professional testing and inspections on those to see if they meet the needs, but we’ve also been working with our local vendors to replenish those supplies. So as far as catastrophic failures, we haven’t had any catastrophic failures of our equipment, just normal impacts we would have to our lower protective equipment for hazardous materials. It’s OK for us to do some rescue operations in them. Um, and then when we transition to our recovery and our hazmat entries, we have the equipment, um, our Class B suits and SEVAs that we feel appropriate to enter that scene to at least do reconnaissance missions, but we do run into some, um, industrial hazards that for any level of equipment wouldn’t be safe for us to continue. Thank you. OK, I want to state last question. I think I haven’t touched base with you yet, *** couple of days, so I’ll go with you, OK. I know there’s still 9 people injured. Can you give us *** range of the injuries from the blast, inhalation, and then do we know what was happening at the time? You mentioned *** shift change. Was that Maintenance being done, *** normal startup. What was happening at the moment, but first, can you tell us about those injuries. So the questions are two part more detailed information about the injuries and then more detailed information about the activities at that time 7:15 in the morning. No, we do not. That’s information that we don’t have. We have, as we identified previously, Dana Tucker and the folks from the coroner’s office and the hospitals are supporting operations there with law enforcement. It is not something that we have as far as the extent of the injuries. As far as the operations there, I think what we outlined earlier as in. The members going about their traditional exchange of information, exchange of shift duties, and their regular duties is what was occurring. We don’t have any additional details at this time. So I want to articulate my appreciation. I want to you all. For your asking the questions as well as your support of of sharing joint information. The Joint Information Center has been established. That information was provided. I’m going to outline that *** means of of submitting that information is available to all. It is to be Send your email inquiries to the abbreviation JIC for Joint Information Center. At ECY for ecology. WA.gov. So that was JIC. At ECY.W.gov. We do not have an established time for the next cycle of information. JI will provide that out to you. I appreciate your time. Let us now return to our teams that have continued to work so we can support them, support our operations. No, no, the tank and the valve components. I understand the question. I’ll repeat it and then I will say we do not know. Description of the age of the tank and the valves, that is something that we do not know and it is something that some of our team have asked as well as the director said, labor and industries will look at in the root cause. OK, thank you. Bear with me. And I’ll be with you in just *** second. Thank you all.

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press

A second person who was injured when a large chemical tank ruptured at a Washington state paper mill has died, authorities said Wednesday, bringing the presumed death toll to 11, including nine workers still missing in one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in years.Authorities said there was no hope of finding more survivors, but crews were ready to resume searching Wednesday for those who went missing following Tuesday’s tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, which also injured 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; and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 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 and spill more liquid, crews determined that it contained less than initially thought and that the tank was stable enough to resume efforts to find the missing.“We do not know where all nine are,” said Scott Goldstein, a Cowlitz County fire chief.The rupture caused the huge circular tank to buckle on one side, and officials said late Tuesday that they would only work during daylight because of the dangers.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 an aerospace plant before those orders were lifted Tuesday night.The paper mill tank could hold about 900,000 gallons 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 saysAuthorities haven’t released the names of the dead or missing, but some names 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.”The cause of the rupture remained unclear.Authorities press for answers about the ruptureNippon 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.“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened, and I want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers to those questions,” Murray said.The mill faced complaints and finesSafety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave in March and May. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both were unrelated to the current situation. One was an anonymous complaint about a valve on a tank, according to the department, which noted that it was not the tank that imploded.Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has been fined $3,400 for three separate health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online database.Just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a result of hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S., according to a paper released by a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023.___Associated Press reporters Gene Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord New Hampshire, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.

LONGVIEW, Wash. —

A second person who was injured when a large chemical tank ruptured at a Washington state paper mill has died, authorities said Wednesday, bringing the presumed death toll to 11, including nine workers still missing in one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in years.

Authorities said there was no hope of finding more survivors, but crews were ready to resume searching Wednesday for those who went missing following Tuesday’s tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, which also injured 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; and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 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 and spill more liquid, crews determined that it contained less than initially thought and that the tank was stable enough to resume efforts to find the missing.

“We do not know where all nine are,” said Scott Goldstein, a Cowlitz County fire chief.

The rupture caused the huge circular tank to buckle on one side, and officials said late Tuesday that they would only work during daylight because of the dangers.

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 an aerospace plant before those orders were lifted Tuesday night.

The paper mill tank could hold about 900,000 gallons 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

Authorities haven’t released the names of the dead or missing, but some names 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.”

The cause of the rupture remained unclear.

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.

“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened, and I want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers to those questions,” Murray said.

The mill faced complaints and fines

Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave in March and May. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both were unrelated to the current situation. One was an anonymous complaint about a valve on a tank, according to the department, which noted that it was not the tank that imploded.

Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has been fined $3,400 for three separate health and safety violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online database.

Just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a result of hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S., according to a paper released by a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023.

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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, and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.