Overview
- A 900,000-gallon white liquor storage tank collapsed on Tuesday, May 26, during a morning shift change and released more than 500,000 gallons of a highly caustic pulping chemical.
- Officials said Saturday that recovery teams have found all missing workers, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11 and ending the search for the unaccounted-for employees.
- Rescue and recovery were slow because unstable structures and corrosive contamination forced limited entries, heavy decontamination of victims and responders, and engineering clearances before crews could move through the site.
- Federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and Washington State Labor & Industries, have opened investigations that are preliminarily focusing on vacuum-relief systems and maintenance practices.
- Local leaders, unions and families are calling for transparency as cleanup crews flush and dilute contaminated ditch networks, monitor pH and fish kills, and assess how the disaster will affect the mill, its workforce and the Longview community.