Officials have identified all 11 victims of a tank implosion at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill, marking the end of a challenging rescue operation.
LONGVIEW, Wash. — All 11 people killed in this week’s catastrophic storage tank implosion at Japan’s Dynawave paper mill have been identified, officials announced Saturday, ending a five-day recovery operation that officials said was slow due to hazardous conditions inside the damaged facility.
“I can tell you that we have found the ninth and final employee missing from this incident,” Longview Fire Chief Brad Hannig said at a news conference.
The Longview paper mill imploded shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday. The explosion involved a tank containing white liquor, a corrosive chemical solution used in the paper-making process.
The explosion injured several workers and left several others unaccounted for, with emergency crews dealing with widespread damage throughout the facility. Parts of the plant, including office areas, were filled with debris, and rescuers were unable to immediately access some areas of the plant due to concerns about structural stability.
Officials said the recovery operation was a labor-intensive and methodical effort that required rescuers to deal with hazardous conditions throughout the facility.
“This job was intense, methodical and very difficult for everyone involved,” said Kurt Stich, deputy chief of Cowlitz 2 Fire Rescue.
The operation is supported by a wide range of local, state and federal partners, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard.
“It is also important that recovery efforts are conducted in a manner that maintains the integrity of the site and ensures investigators have the ability to fully determine what happened and provide these families and communities with the answers they deserve,” said Scott Tift, national president of the Western Pulp and Paper Workers Association.
Officials have not released the cause of the explosion or whether the tank showed signs of malfunction before the accident. They also did not provide a timetable for when investigators would release preliminary findings.
The investigation is expected to last weeks or months, with authorities inspecting damaged equipment and reviewing the circumstances that led to the explosion.
Environmental monitoring is also ongoing. Federal and state officials say dead fish continue to be found in a network of ditches and canals near the facility, with reports increasing in recent days. The Environmental Protection Agency encourages the public to report dead fish to its hotline at 1-800-22-BIRDS to help staff identify affected areas.
So far, the impact on other wildlife appears to be limited, officials said. In addition to the fish, rescuers reported finding small numbers of dead tadpoles and other small wildlife.
Now that all victims have been identified, the focus has shifted from recovery efforts to understanding what happened inside the plant and whether there were any warning signs before the disaster struck.
The tragedy may go down as one of the deadliest industrial accidents in modern Washington state history.
