Crews resumed the search Wednesday for nine people presumed killed after a chemical tank ruptured Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. paper mill in Longview, Washington. The Associated Press reported. The likely death toll reached 11, including the missing, after another person who was injured died, according to authorities in Cowlitz County.
Authorities said there was no hope of finding more survivors following Tuesday’s tank failure. Eight other people were injured in the incident, including a firefighter who was treated at a hospital and released, the AP reported.
The tank involved in the rupture contained a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process. The cause of the tank failure remained under investigation.
If the 11 deaths are confirmed, the accident would rank among the deadliest U.S. industrial disasters in recent decades. It follows a series of fatal workplace incidents, including an explosion that killed 16 people at a Tennessee explosives plant in the fall of 2025, a fire and detonation that killed 14 people at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, in 2013, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 people in 2010, and a coal mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 29 people, also in 2010.
The Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility produces paper products for the packaging industry. The company had not issued a public statement by Wednesday afternoon.