Recovery begins after deadly Longview paper mill tank rupture
Crews shifted to recovery at a Longview paper mill after a 900,000-gallon white-liquor tank ruptured, leaving at least two dead and nine workers missing.
Recovery crews kept searching Thursday at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Washington, after a 900,000-gallon tank of highly caustic white liquor ruptured Tuesday morning on Industrial Way. At least two people were confirmed dead, nine workers were still unaccounted for, and officials said no additional survivors were expected.
The response had already changed from rescue to recovery as hazardous materials workers examined the site and corrosive chemicals slowed the work. Officials said the danger was severe enough to limit recovery operations to daylight hours, a reminder that the threat at a chemical-heavy industrial site can extend long after the initial blast of force or rupture.
Several other workers were injured, bringing the total number of people killed or hurt to at least 19. The rupture at the Longview mill has pushed industrial safety accountability to the forefront in a community where the paper industry has long been woven into daily life and family histories. Reports from the area say the missing workers include husbands and grandfathers, deepening the sense of loss across Cowlitz County.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said the disaster could become the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history. Local officials said the scale of the loss may make it the state’s deadliest workplace tragedy in roughly 96 years, a grim comparison that places Longview alongside some of Washington’s most devastating industrial accidents.
Officials have pointed to earlier tragedies for historical context, including the 1892 Northern Pacific coal mine explosion in Roslyn, which killed 45 people, the 1998 Equilon refinery fire in Anacortes, which killed six, and the 2010 Tesoro refinery explosion in Anacortes, which killed seven. Those comparisons sharpen the focus on how hazardous facilities are overseen, monitored and allowed to operate in working communities that live with the risks every day.
In Longview, hundreds of residents and local officials gathered at a vigil to mourn the victims and support their families. As recovery work continued at the mill, the rupture stood as both a human disaster and a test of industrial safety systems in one of Washington’s hardest-hit manufacturing towns.
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