9 employees are still missing after a chemical tank burst at an industrial facility in Washington, USA, causing many serious injuries and at least 1 death, officials said.
On the afternoon of May 26, local time, officials said that rescue and search work is still "very complicated" because the broken tank is still unstable. Inside the tank is also containing white fluid - a type of chemical used in paper production.
The incident was identified as a dangerous material incident that occurred on the same morning at the pulp and paper factory of Nippon Dynawave Packaging company in Longview city. The tank broke at about 7:15 am on May 26.
Initially, authorities described it as a chemical explosion before officially identifying it as a tank burst.
Longview fire unit commander Mike Gorsuch called this a tragic incident and said rescue operations are being deployed.
However, in a subsequent update, officials said that rescue work will resume on May 27 because unsafe risks still exist.
Currently, the tank is still unstable, creating dangerous conditions for rescue forces. Rescue teams are continuing to reinforce the structure and stabilize the scene before further search operations can be carried out safely" - the statement stated.
Authorities confirmed 1 death. The victim was taken to the hospital but did not survive. 8 employees were injured, including people with chemical burns, and were transferred by ambulance to hospitals in the area. The injury severity of the victims ranged from mild to critical. A firefighter was also injured while on duty but was treated and discharged from the hospital.
Authorities informed that the exploding tank has a capacity of about 3.4 million liters and is estimated to still have about 340,000 liters of chemicals inside.
The white liquid is a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and sodium carbonate used in the paper production process.
The cause of the burst tank has not yet been determined.
Officials emphasized that there is no direct threat to the surrounding community. People are advised to stay away from the incident area while emergency response work is still ongoing.
Nippon's facility is located in the border area between Washington and Oregon, near the Columbia River. This kraft paper, paper and liquid packaging factory currently employs nearly 1,000 workers.
