Death Toll Reaches 11 in Washington Paper Mill Blast as Teams Recover 7 of 9 Missing Workers
Authorities confirmed Friday that the bodies of seven of the nine workers still unaccounted for after Tuesday's chemical tank implosion at a paper mill in southern Washington have been recovered, raising the official death toll to 11. Two victims had been identified shortly after the incident.
The blast occurred at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, a city straddling the Washington-Oregon border along the Columbia River. Crews found six of the bodies Thursday in a designated workers' area where employees typically gather before and after shifts — a detail that underscores the timing of the rupture, which happened as shifts were changing.
The seventh body was located Friday, but officials declined to predict when the two remaining victims might be recovered. Longview Fire Department Battalion Chief Matt Amos described the scene as “very complex,” citing industrial hazards including exposed wiring and collapsed structural debris. He said teams must rotate frequently and undergo a decontamination process each time they exit the site.
Several other workers were injured in the blast, though exact numbers and conditions remained unclear late in the week. Some patients were transferred to the Legacy Oregon Burn Center in Portland, Oregon.
The failed tank held “white liquor,” a sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide solution essential to the paper pulping process. With an estimated capacity of 900,000 gallons, the tank was roughly two-thirds full at the time of the incident. Local officials said Wednesday that roughly 25,000 gallons of material may still be inside the damaged vessel, leaking slowly. Amos noted Friday that the tank remained in the same unstable condition.
Environmental monitoring has been a growing focus of the response. EPA coordinator Brooks Stanfield said Thursday that hydrogen sulfide — a primary concern — has not been detected in the air near the plant. However, some of the liquid leaked into a network of drainage ditches that sit above the aquifer serving Longview's municipal water supply, and which are accessible to people and pets.
Public Works director Chris Collins said testing shows the drinking water remains safe, explaining that the city draws water from a 200-foot-deep aquifer and that the wells are “very protected” from surface contamination. Still, authorities are pursuing a two-phase plan to flush the ditches: first diluting the chemicals with fresh water, then discharging the mixture into the Columbia River once pH levels are neutralized. Collins said fire hydrants have been opened to accelerate the flushing.
Stanfield acknowledged that white liquor entered the Columbia River within minutes of the rupture, though he described the volume as “very limited.” He assured the public that the river is safe for fishing and swimming, though dead fish have been found in the contaminated ditches, and more are expected until the system is fully flushed.
Brian Wood, director of support services at Nippon Dynawave, said the mill has been shut down except for critical infrastructure operating with minimal staffing. He said the company has made arrangements to pay idled workers and will continue to do so. When asked about broader safety concerns at the plant, Wood said: “We work in a highly hazardous atmosphere and a highly hazardous industry. We approach it with the utmost care in everything that we do. I'll let the facts speak for themselves.”
The incident has drawn scrutiny to industrial safety protocols at paper mills, particularly those handling large volumes of caustic chemicals. Longview, a community of about 37,000 residents, has long been a hub for timber and paper production, with Nippon Dynawave operating one of the region's largest pulp and paper facilities. The company, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Industries, has pledged full cooperation with investigators.