Crews recovered the bodies of two workers who were still missing after an explosion this week at a paper mill in Longview, Wash., bringing the death toll to 11, officials said Saturday.
Initially, two people were found dead and nine workers were reported missing after a tank holding 600,000 gallons of a caustic chemical known as “white liquor” exploded on Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant on the Columbia River in southwestern Washington. The paper mill uses the chemical to turn wood chips into packaging board used in juice cartons.
The search for the missing carried on through the week and was complicated by the treacherous conditions at the blast site. Crews had to wear special protective gear and undergo a decontamination process because of the dangerous chemicals still present.
At a news conference on Saturday, Dana Tucker, the coroner in Cowlitz County, Wash., confirmed the identities of the victims. They were Gilbert Bernal, 52; Tyler Covington, 29; Brad Covington, 27; Robert Wilson, 48; Dale Miller, 54; Jared Ammons, 35; Braydon Finkas, 38; Clinton Doran, 26; John Forsberg, 51; Norman Barlow, 58; and Dillon Miller, whose age was not given.
At the time of the blast, most of the victims had been gathered in an area where workers receive their assignments for the day, officials said.
By Thursday, officials had recovered the bodies of seven of the missing.
Search teams continued to comb through the debris inside the ravaged facility — where heavy items had been scattered — before recovering the final two missing on Saturday, Kurt Stitch, the deputy chief of Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue, said at the news conference.
Ms. Tucker said the remains of the victims recovered on Saturday had been identified based on multiple factors and that a forensic identification process, involving dental records and other methods, was still pending.
“This work has been intense,” Chief Stitch said. “It’s been methodical, and incredibly difficult for everyone that’s been involved.”
The plant explosion is one of the deadliest industrial disasters in recent decades. Nippon Dynawave said it was cooperating with officials investigating the cause of the explosion.
The deadly episode raised questions about the future of the plant, which employs roughly 550 workers, and the potential effects on the local economy.
Paper mills have historically been a major source of employment in the region, though globalization and shifting economic conditions have driven many out of business in recent years.
Federal and state environmental officials have been on site since Tuesday monitoring the air and waterways around the plant for harmful chemicals.
Officials said the drinking water is safe, but advised the public to stay out of waterways in the storm drainage system that had been contaminated.
There was little concern about the contamination of the Columbia River, officials said, because of its large size.
Orlando Mayorquín is a Times reporter covering California. He is based in Los Angeles.
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