Bodies of Six Workers Recovered in Debris of Longview, WA, Paper Mill
The Seattle Times
(TNS)
Complex cleanup and recovery efforts are underway in the aftermath of an implosion at a Longview pulp mill that has likely killed 11 people and led to the release of hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals into the environment.
Eight people are confirmed dead, and the remains of three employees were still in the implosion site, officials said Thursday afternoon. The Nippon Dynawave Packaging workers were killed when a tank with a capacity of 900,000 gallons of white liquor imploded Tuesday.
Recovered bodies undergo decontamination before being taken to the Cowlitz County coroner’s office for identification and family notification, Longview Fire Department Chief Brad Hannig said Thursday afternoon. The names of those killed haven't been publicly released.
“The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care and respect possible,” Hannig said.
The six employees were recovered in the workers’ area of the Nippon mill, in a spot where they would have congregated in the morning to find out their assignments for the day, Longview fire battalion Chief Matt Amos said. The tank imploded soon after employees had started their 7 a.m. shifts.
Recovery is labor-intensive and requires a lot of personnel in a complex scene, Amos said. Crews flew drones over the area and inspected the site with engineers.
It still continues to be a highly complex industrial hazard," he added.
The Nippon Dynawave Packaging mill has shut down except for "critical infrastructure" operations with minimal staffing, according to Brian Wood, director of support services at Nippon.
Employees who aren't able to work because of the implosion are being paid, he said.
Wood said Nippon is supporting recovery efforts and working closely with the workers union to provide assistance. At the news conference, he was asked about whether safety had been an issue at the plant.
"We work in a highly hazardous atmosphere and a highly hazardous industry," he said. "We approach it with the utmost care in everything that we do. I'll let the facts speak for themselves.
Outside the Nippon facility, a small makeshift memorial reading “Longview Strong” was set up by community members earlier in the day. Several bouquets of flowers and a Coors Light beer can with a Seahawks lanyard were laid on the memorial.
Candles and flowers were still by a gazebo at a nearby park, where a vigil was held Tuesday.
Local officials said they were working together to organize official funds for the families of the victims. Meanwhile, friends and family of victims have set up GoFundMe pages to pay for funeral expenses or other support; some totaled more than $20,000 Thursday night.
The deaths have continued to hit the southwestern Washington city and surrounding towns hard, said Todd Cornwell, whose friend Gilbert Bernal died in the implosion. With a population of fewer than 50,000, everyone knows somebody who works in one of the area’s mills, and many have a connection to Nippon. In his Bible study group of 13 people, three knew someone killed, he said.
“They may never even figure out why” the implosion happened, Cornwell said Wednesday. “But the ‘why’ doesn’t matter. Just that it did, and you pull together and deal with it. And everybody is pulling together to support each other.”
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