Ten of the 11 plant workers killed at a Longview, Wash., paper mill last month died from alkaline chemical burns, the result of caustic liquid that flooded out of a failed holding tank and through the plant.
Regulators are still investigating what caused the sudden explosion of a tank holding 600,000 gallons of “white liquor,” a caustic blend of chemicals used to turn wood pulp into packaging containers like milk and juice cartons. The explosion at the plant, Nippon Dynawave Packaging, was the deadliest industrial accident in Washington’s modern history.
On Thursday, the coroner in Cowlitz County, Wash., confirmed that the tank’s failure sent white liquor flooding into the factory on the Columbia River and the drainage system beyond it. The force of the explosion and the ensuing torrent flipped nearby trucks and blew holes in factory walls, according to photos released by investigators.
All 10 of the men the county coroner examined suffered alkaline chemical burns; one also suffered “asphyxia due to aspiration of foreign object,” though the coroner’s announcement did not specify whether that referred to toxic fumes or flying debris. The cause of death of an 11th victim, who died after being airlifted to a hospital in neighboring Oregon, has not yet been released.
Some of the chemical mix ended up in the local drainage system, which was quickly shut down. Though the area water supply was not threatened, close to 3,000 dead fish have been found in nearby dikes and ditches, and contaminated water was flushed into the Columbia River.
Regulators have said it could be months before a precise cause of the disaster is clear, and recovery crews have decontaminated just 23 percent of the affected area so far.
The plant employs 550 people in Longview, a port and industrial town about 45 miles from Portland, Ore. The implosion occurred during a morning shift change, and most of the workers killed were gathered awaiting their daily assignments when the tank failed.
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