{"id":29616,"date":"2026-05-27T08:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/29616\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:44:13","slug":"one-dead-9-missing-as-washington-chemical-implosion-proves-worse-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/29616\/","title":{"rendered":"One dead, 9 missing as Washington chemical implosion proves worse than previously thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

One person is confirmed dead and nine others are unaccounted for after a Washington state chemical implosion <\/a>that has proven to be even larger than previously reported.<\/p>\n

A vat containing around 900,000 gallons of toxic chemicals exploded at a paper mill in the town of Longview around 7 a.m. Tuesday, sending eight workers and one firefighter to the hospital \u2014 some with horrific burns, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficials can also confirm there are 9 employees who remain unaccounted for,\u201d the city of Longview said<\/a> in a Tuesday evening update.<\/p>\n

The vat \u2014 on a paper mill operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging \u2014 contained \u201cwhite liquor,\u201d a chemical combination of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and disodium carbonate.<\/p>\n

A ruined vat that imploded on May 26, 2026, at a paper mill in Longview Washington. City of Longview, Washington via AP<\/p>\n

The vat (pictured) held around 900,000 gallons of a chemical combination of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and disodium carbonate. Cowlitz County News<\/p>\n

Longview, WA, Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein updates reporters. One person is dead and 9 are currently unaccounted for after the implosion. AP Photo\/Claire Rush<\/p>\n

Officials initially reported the vat held 80,000 gallons of the deadly chemical, but officials later confirmed it actually held more than ten times that amount. <\/p>\n

Around 90,000 gallons remain inside the tank, which remains unstable \u2014 hindering search and rescue operations for the missing workers, officials said in a Tuesday evening press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe site will continue to be monitored overnight, but recovery efforts will not resume until tomorrow due to ongoing safety concerns,\u201d city officials said.<\/p>\n

The disaster site at a plant operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging. Cowlitz County News<\/p>\n

Overhead view of the The disaster site at a plant operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging factory in Longview, WA. REUTERS<\/p>\n

There is no immediate threat to the public, officials said. Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility is a paper mill with 550 employees that makes \u201caround 280,000 tons of bleached liquid packaging paperboard, and wetlap and slush pulp\u201d each year, according to the\u00a0Washington State Department of Ecology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company\u00a0says its products\u00a0<\/a>\u201care converted into 8 billion single-serve containers per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fire crew and hazmat team are on site at the mill \u201cto mitigate the product and container involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The implosion prompted a response from five fire engines, seven ambulances and the hazmat team. Residents were previously told to stay away from the site of the implosion.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews will wait until the morning of Wed., May 27, to resume recovery operations due to safety concerns. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Front sign for Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. AP Photo\/Claire Rush<\/p>\n

A multi-day fire broke out at the same paper mill in 2023,\u00a0according to KCBY<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The implosion comes as\u00a0Orange County deals with an ongoing chemical tank\u00a0<\/a>crisis that forced thousands of residents to evacuate.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the county as a chemical tank containing thousands of gallons of methyl methacrylate uncontrollably heated up, before officials were able to halt the temperature climb.<\/p>\n

A Nippon Dynawave Packaging Facility employee told The Post that they had \u201cno information\u201d at that time to provide when contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One person is confirmed dead and nine others are unaccounted for after a Washington state chemical implosion that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4097,22959,9012,8,31,8559,3283,16416],"class_list":["post-29616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-metro","tag-chemical-spill","tag-disaster","tag-japan","tag-nippon","tag-us-news","tag-washington","tag-washington-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}