Chemical tank implosion in Washington state kills 1 and leaves 9 missing
[May 27, 2026]
By CLAIRE RUSH and REBECCA BOONE
LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — A massive chemical tank holding nearly a million
gallons of a highly corrosive liquid imploded and collapsed Tuesday at a
Washington paper mill, killing at least one worker and leaving nine
others unaccounted for with no hope for rescue, authorities said.
Another nine people were injured, some severely, in the spill at Nippon
Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview. The cause remained unclear.
“At the moment we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,"
Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during a Tuesday
evening news conference in which officials repeatedly referred to the
situation as a recovery effort.
That effort would not resume until Wednesday morning, when emergency
responders planned to work on stabilizing the collapsed tank, which
still had about 90,000 gallons (more than 340,000 liters) of a chemical
brew known as “white liquor" inside, and then search for the missing,
Goldstein said.
The severity of the injuries ranged from minor to critical, with some
suffering burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said. Among those
injured was a responding firefighter.
Officials said they would only work during daylight hours because there
was a risk of the tank leaking more caustic liquid and potentially
collapsing.
“We don’t know until we know, hopefully tomorrow, how we can stabilize
the tank. Do we remove the product first? Do we stabilize the tank first
or the vice versa?” Goldstein said.
Authorities said there was no threat to the public.
Community waits for more information
At a community vigil Tuesday night, dozens gathered at a local park to
pray, light candles and embrace teary-eyed loved ones.
Crystal Moldenhauer, a Longview resident who served on the school board,
said she has friends who work at the plant and remained unaccounted for.
She described the stress of the day as people called and texted each
other trying to figure out what happened.
“We’re all still waiting for answers,” she said. “There’s families that
have been torn apart, and we don’t know why.”
Two upset parents who said their two sons worked at the plant
interjected at the end of the news conference, saying they hadn’t been
contacted. While officials including Gov. Bob Ferguson, U.S. Sen. Patty
Murray and U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez addressed those gathered,
no one from the company spoke at the news conference.
Some people waited at the company’s visitor entrance earlier Tuesday,
seeking information about loved ones. They declined to comment to an
Associated Press reporter. At a nearby union hall that was serving as a
family assistance center, three women shared a tearful embrace before
heading inside. Others coming and going were also in tears.
Facility is central to the community
The Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility is a pulp and paper mill and
liquid packaging plant along the Columbia River in Longview, a city of
about 38,000 that has had a relationship with the paper and lumber
industries since its founding by a Kansas City timber baron in the
1920s.
The facility, which employs about 1,000 people and dates to 1953, makes
material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and other
goods. It is located in an industrial zone shared by other timber, paper
and chemical businesses, and it remains central to the community.
“The people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work
on site,” Cowlitz Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein noted. “It is
something that is impactful, and we have support networks to support the
workers as well as the emergency responders.”
[to top of second column]
|
People gather at a vigil after a chemical tank failure at a paper
mill killed at least one worker and left others unaccounted for in
Longview, Wash., Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Claire Rush)
Officials initially reported that the tank had a capacity of 80,000
gallons (303,000 liters), but later revised that number to say it was
holding about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of the "white
liquor.” That's nearly enough to fill a typical Olympic-sized swimming
pool one and a half times. The liquid, which consists mainly of sodium
hydroxide and sodium sulfide, is used with heat to break down wood to
make kraft paper, a durable material used in packaging, shopping bags
and other products.
Cause is not yet known
It was too early to determine the cause of the implosion, Goldstein
said.
Following the tank's rupture, the white liquor spilled into a drainage
ditch, said Brittny Goodsell, a state Ecology Department spokesperson.
The department sent a team to evaluate the impacts, Goodsell said.
“I know there’s a lot of questions about how all of this happened and I
want to assure you that we will all continue to pressure to get answers
to those questions,” Murray said during the Tuesday evening news
conference. “This community deserves that.”
The implosion came as thousands of residents of Southern California
remained evacuated Tuesday due to a damaged chemical tank at an
aerospace plant. All evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday night.
Just over 40 people died between January 2021 and mid-October 2023 as a
result of hazardous chemical incidents, according to a paper released by
a network of environmental justice organizations in late 2023.
Previous health and safety violations
Safety complaints were filed against Nippon Dynawave on March 4 and May
6. The state’s labor and industries department said on X that both are
unrelated to the current situation and remain open. The former was an
anonymous complaint about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank,
according to the department, which noted that “it was not the tank that
imploded.” The other was opened about a sinkhole created by a drain that
failed, according to the department.
Nippon Dynawave, a subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Paper Group, has
been fined a total of $3,400 for three separate health and safety
violations found by Washington Department of Labor and Industries
inspectors since the start of 2021, according to the department’s online
database.
In one inspection, the company was cited because face coverings were not
worn by every employee when required. In another, the inspector
determined that an employee was exposed to the risk of falling while
working on a platform more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) off the ground.
In the third incident, the department determined that equipment involved
in a work-related accident — an amputated finger — was moved from its
original position before the state’s investigation into the accident was
complete.
___
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporters Gene
Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle and Christopher L. Keller in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
