Several dead in chemical accident in packaging factory

Washington State

Several dead in chemical accident at factory

After an accident at a packaging company in Washington state, the fire department reports deaths and injuries. The exact extent is still unclear.

Several people have died in a chemical accident at a factory in Washington state. The fire department in Longview announced on Tuesday that there were also several seriously injured people. In the accident, a tank containing so-called white liquor, which was used in the factory, burst.

“There have been fatalities associated with the incident,” said a joint statement from the fire department and Nippon Dynawave Packaging factory management. In addition, several people were injured, some seriously, by the chemical solution that escaped from the tank. Exact information on the number of deaths and injuries was not initially given.

According to the fire department, ten people were transported from the scene. One of them was a firefighter and nine were employees of the company, said Fire Chief Scott Goldstein. “The spectrum of injuries ranged from life-threatening, serious to minor injuries,” Goldstein said when asked by reporters. Goldstein has not yet commented on the number or identity of the fatalities. The fire department wanted to appear in front of the journalists in the evening (local time) with a current report.

The statement also assured that there was no danger to the population surrounding the factory in Longview, about an hour’s drive north of Portland. Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a subsidiary of the Japanese Nippon Paper Group.

The state’s governor, Bob Ferguson, expressed his condolences to those affected on the online platform X. “My thoughts are with the workers and their families and with the first responders,” Ferguson wrote. Teams from the Ministry of the Environment and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are on site, and the National Guard has also been put on alert.