Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, May 31: The death toll from a chemical tank rupture at a paper manufacturing facility in the US state of Washington has risen to 11 after rescue teams recovered the bodies of all nine workers who had been reported missing, authorities said on Saturday.
Two deaths had been confirmed immediately after the accident on Tuesday, when a tank containing "white liquor" imploded at a facility operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging.
According to officials, the tank contained nearly 900,000 gallons (3.4 million litres) of white liquor, a chemical solution made of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in the paper pulp manufacturing process.
Search and recovery operations continued throughout the week as emergency crews cleared debris from indoor sections of the facility and used drones to survey the surrounding area. Deputy Chief Kurt Stitch of Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue said the bodies of all missing individuals had now been recovered.
Authorities said tests confirmed that some of the chemical contamination entered the nearby Columbia River. However, officials reported that no adverse impact had been detected on air quality or the drinking water supply of the city of Longview.
Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Paper Industries, Japan's second-largest paper producer by sales. The company acquired the Longview plant from Weyerhaeuser for $225 million and established the subsidiary in 2016.
The cause of the tank rupture is under investigation.