A storage tank containing approximately 900,000 gallons of white liquor (sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide) ruptured at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging paper manufacturing facility in Longview, Washington, resulting in 11 confirmed deaths, including nine workers previously reported missing.
The accident marks one of the deadliest industrial incidents in Washington state in recent years; recovery operations have concluded after locating all missing workers.
Environmental testing indicated no negative impact on local air quality or Longview’s drinking water supply, though contamination entered the nearby Columbia River.
Nippon Dynawave Packaging is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Nippon Paper Industries, the country’s second‑largest paper producer; Nippon Paper acquired the Longview plant from Weyerhaeuser in a $225 million transaction and established the subsidiary in 2016.
The cause of the tank rupture remains undisclosed, and investigations are ongoing.
