LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Crews have recovered the remains of six of nine workers who were missing after a massive chemical tank ruptured at at paper mill in Washington state, releasing a flood of caustic liquid capable of causing severe burns and lung injuries, officials said Thursday.
In all, 11 people were killed in the disaster, including the three yet to be recovered, and eight injured. It’s one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in recent decades.
A tank containing more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a chemical mixture used to break down wood for making paper collapsed Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, a city along the Columbia River.
The collapse occurred during a shift change, and the six workers whose remains were recovered had been in an area where they would congregate in the morning as they awaited their assignments for the day, said Matt Amos, Longview fire battalion chief.
Among the victims were a grandfather who was always willing to help anyone and a young husband described as selfless and caring, according to friends who organized fundraisers for the victims’ families.
The recovery of the victims has been slow and deliberate, complicated by the dangers posed by the remaining chemicals and other industrial hazards, Amos said. Crews were steering clear of a zone closest to the tank, in case of further collapse. They have been working with engineers to determine whether damaged buildings around the tank are safe to enter.
As they collect the remains, crews must decontaminate them before turning them over to the coroner’s office for identification. The searchers also must decontaminate themselves.
Authorities said the cause of the disaster is still under investigation. They have not released the names of those who were killed, but friends and relatives had begun confirming their names and posting online fundraisers to support their families.
Gilbert Bernal, a grandfather who was an electrician at the plant, was the first confirmed death, said his friend Todd Cornwell.
“He was one of the most genuinely good people that you’ve ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done,” Cornwell said.
CJ Doran, who was 26, was among those presumed dead, according to a GoFundMe post verified by the crowdfunding site.
He was a husband who was “the spiritual leader of their family, the joy of their home, and the family provider,” the post said.
Other victims included John Forsberg, a father to two young children; Jared Ammons, who had two children and another on the way; and Braydon Finkas, an electrician at the plant who, along with his longtime partner, Kaitlyn Kincaid, took in exchange students and others in need at their home in Cathlamet, according to their friend Rex Czuba.
Finkas was always willing to help someone cut hay or to buy a beer for a new face in their small town, he said.
“He was a really big part of the town,” Czuba said. “He really jumped in and became a part of the community so quickly.”
The tank failure also injured eight people, including a firefighter. Some suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.
The mill’s Japanese parent company, Nippon Paper Group, said in a statement Wednesday that it was offering its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”
Authorities said Thursday the spill hadn’t contaminated the air and drinking water in and around Longview, a city of about 40,000 people along Washington’s border with Oregon.
The community, which was founded at the confluence of the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers by a Kansas City timber baron in the 1920s, has deep ties to paper and lumber industries.
Generations of families have worked in the mills, and many residents who spoke with The Associated Press had family members or friends connected to the Nippon Dynawave plant. The sprawling facility, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, and cartons. It sits along the Columbia next to other timber, paper and chemical businesses.
Crews were working to flush water from ditches near the plant and dilute it before pumping it into the river.
Some contamination has reached the river, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has had no noticeable effect.
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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press Martha Bellisle and Hallie Golden in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.