Search to recover 9 missing employees to resume after deadly chemical tank rupture in Washington

(CNN) — Search crews are expected to navigate treacherous circumstances when they renew efforts to find nine people still missing a day after a deadly chemical tank rupture at a paper plant in Washington state.

At least one person was killed and nine people were injured after a 900,000-gallon tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview. About 90,000 gallons of material could still be inside the damaged tank, officials said.

The tank contained a mixture called white liquor, which is used in paper-making processes and can cause severe burns when it comes into contact with skin.

Beyond those known to be injured or killed, nine facility employees were still missing Tuesday evening. Authorities did not say they expected to find any more survivors.

“At the moment, we are not aware of any rescues that are yet to be made,” Cowlitz County fire official Scott Goldstein said Tuesday.

Recovery efforts were halted Tuesday evening due to safety concerns about the unstable tank, Goldstein said. The tank could have fallen on first responders, who could also be exposed to corrosive chemicals that the plant normally uses to turn wood chips into pulp.

Local, regional and state agencies worked with facility staff to “reinforce and stabilize the site” to help with recovery efforts, which could safely resume Wednesday morning, fire officials said in a release.

Details about how the rupture happened weren’t immediately available. CNN has sought comment from Nippon Dynawave Packaging about the incident.

There is no threat to the surrounding community, but people should avoid the area, the Longview Fire Department said.

The incident unfolded around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility, which produces pulp used to make paper products and paperboard for items like cartons and cups. The facility is in Longview, about 50 miles north of Portland, Oregon, and about 130 miles south of Seattle.

The injured include eight employees and one firefighter, who was treated and released, fire officials said Tuesday. Earlier, officials said “there were fatalities” related to an implosion.

The rupture is the latest in a series of incidents at industrial facilities, mills and plants in recent months – some of which have been deadly. In Southern California this past week, officials raced to prevent an overheating chemical tank from exploding, prompting tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. A crack in the tank eased pressure in the tank, eliminating the risk of a catastrophic blast.

In April, a chemical leak involving nitric acid and another substance at a West Virginia plant killed two people and injured more than a dozen others, The Associated Press reported.

Last October, more than 24,000 pounds of explosives detonated at a Tennessee explosives plant, killing 16 employees. The blast was so powerful, it registered as a 1.6 magnitude earthquake.

Two months before that, an explosion at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two workers and injured more than 10 others, one of whom was trapped in rubble, the AP reported.

What is white liquor?

White liquor is a chemical mixture used to break down wood chips during the paper-making process. The liquid is highly caustic and can cause second- and third-degree burns upon contact with skin, Longview fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said Tuesday.

Inhaling concentrated vapor around the liquid can also be dangerous, though it primarily acts as an irritant when in the air, he added.

About 500,000 gallons of liquid were released and mixed with water from a ruptured on-site fire main, all of which “is remaining on site,” Goldstein said.

Officials saw an initial increase in the pH level in a few nearby waterways and shut down dike system pumps in those areas “to keep it contained there,” Goldstein said. He urged residents to avoid dikes and ditches between Washington Way and Prudential Boulevard.

Burn patients hospitalized

PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center initially received nine patients from the Longview facility, including one person who died and four others who were transferred to other hospitals, the medical center said.

Injuries ranged from mild to severe, and included chemical skin burns as well as eye and airway irritation, the medical center said.

Three patients were later discharged from PeaceHealth St. John, and one patient remained in fair condition, spokesperson Jim Murez said.

Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. employs about 1,000 people at its pulp-and-paper mill and packaging plant. The facility treats its wastewater and sends it to the Columbia River, according to Washington’s Department of Ecology.

Air and water quality tested

The state’s Department of Ecology has a spills team on site to monitor air and water quality, spokesperson Brittny Goodsell said Tuesday.

While responders have not detected a spike in air quality issues, another air monitoring team is headed to the site to support the efforts, Goodsell said.

“We currently don’t have concerns for public health outside of the scene at this time,” she said.

State officials will be at the site “to do everything we can to help the situation,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said Tuesday.

Grief and anxiety now permeate Longview, a tight-knit city of about 40,000 people on the banks of the Columbia River.

“The people who are responders here have friends and relatives that work on site,” Goldstein said Tuesday.

Community members gathered at a vigil Tuesday evening to honor the victim killed and the employees still missing.

Longview resident Crystal Moldenhauer told the AP she has friends who work at the plant who remained unaccounted for.

“We’re all still waiting for answers,” she told the AP. “There’s families that have been torn apart, and we don’t know why.”

Open inspections are unrelated, state says

The site is the subject of two unrelated, ongoing inspections that started before the rupture and are unrelated to the event, according to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

One was opened in March after the department received an anonymous complaint about concerns “about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank,” which is not the same tank that ruptured, according to the agency.

The other was opened in May after a complaint about a sinkhole created by a failed drain, the agency said.

State officials cited the site for violations after three other inspections in the last five years that were not related to “chemical process or storage safety” but had to do with fall protection and failure to wear face coverings, the agency said.

One of the violations involved the employer not ensuring “employees were provided a workplace free from recognized hazards causing, or are likely to cause, serious injury or death,” the inspection report said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Andi Babineau contributed to this report.