Investing.com — Eleven people have been confirmed dead following a chemical tank rupture at a paper manufacturing facility in Washington state, after recovery crews located the bodies of all nine workers previously reported missing, Reuters reported on Saturday.
Two deaths had been confirmed earlier this week after a tank containing “white liquor” imploded at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Longview, Washington.
Authorities said search and recovery operations continued throughout the week as crews worked through debris inside the facility and used drones to survey the surrounding area.
The accident involved a storage tank containing approximately 900,000 gallons of white liquor, a chemical solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in the paper pulp manufacturing process.
Officials previously said contamination from the incident entered the nearby Columbia River.
Authorities added that testing has not identified any negative impacts on local air quality or Longview’s drinking water supply.
The cause of the tank rupture has not yet been disclosed.
Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Nippon Paper Industries, the country’s second-largest paper manufacturer by sales.
Nippon Paper acquired the Longview facility from Weyerhaeuser in a $225 million transaction and established Nippon Dynawave Packaging in 2016.
The incident marks one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Washington state in recent years.
Local authorities said recovery operations at the site have now concluded following the discovery of all missing workers.
Investigations into the cause of the accident are expected to continue.
Link: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/death-toll-washington-chemical-plant-055410869.html