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Chemical Tank Rupture at Longview Paper Plant Kills Worker and Leaves Several Missing

State teams are monitoring air and water as unstable wreckage delays recovery operations and investigators examine conflicting tank-capacity reports.

Overview

  • A tank holding white liquor ruptured at Nippon Dynawave’s Longview plant on Tuesday, May 26, producing at least one confirmed fatality, multiple injured patients and several employees unaccounted for.
  • First responders decontaminated and hospitalized about ten people for chemical burns and inhalation injuries with one injured firefighter among them.
  • Authorities initially cited an 80,000‑gallon tank at about 60% full and later reported figures near 900,000 gallons with roughly 90,000 gallons possibly remaining, a discrepancy investigators are still reviewing.
  • The damaged tank remains unstable, which has forced crews to pause or limit search and recovery work and has complicated access to parts of the facility.
  • Washington’s Department of Ecology has deployed spill‑response and air/water monitoring teams and says there is no detected off‑site public‑health threat as state and local agencies continue their investigation and support for affected families.