CHEMICAL SPILL DEATH TOLL RISES TO 11 AFTER WASHINGTON PAPER PLANT DISASTER

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Agency Report

The death toll from a chemical spill at a paper plant in Washington State, United States, has risen to 11 after rescuers recovered the bodies of all nine workers previously declared missing.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that recovery teams had located the final missing employee following the industrial accident that occurred on Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company facility in Longview, Washington.

Fire Chief of the Longview Fire Department, Brad Hannig, announced at a press briefing that all missing persons had been accounted for.

“We have recovered the ninth and final missing employee of this incident,” Hannig said.

The incident initially left two workers dead, while nine others were reported missing, prompting a large-scale search and rescue operation.

According to reports, the disaster occurred during an early morning shift change when a massive tank holding about 900,000 gallons of white liquor—a highly caustic chemical used in paper production—ruptured at the facility.

White liquor is a highly alkaline solution containing sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide, used in breaking down wood chips for pulp production in the paper manufacturing process.

Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a subsidiary of Japan’s Nippon Paper Group, produces billions of single-serve containers annually for markets across North America, Asia and other regions.

Authorities have not yet released further details on what caused the tank failure, while investigations into the incident are ongoing.