At least 1 dead and 9 missing after an implosion at a paper and packaging plant in Washington state

By Alisha Ebrahimji, Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — At least one person has died, nine people were injured and nine others remain unaccounted for after a large vat of chemical treatment product, including hazardous materials, imploded at a paper and packaging facility in Washington state, fire officials said.

The implosion took place around 7:30 a.m. local time at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, Washington, following the rupture of a tank containing white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper making process, the Longview Fire Department said.

There is no immediate threat to the public, the department said, but the scene remains active and emergency responders are in the “recovery phase.”

The injured include eight employees and one firefighter, fire officials said. At a news conference earlier in the day, they said “there were fatalities” related to the implosion.

CNN has reached out to the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility for comment on the incident.

While officials originally said the tank had capacity to hold 80,000 gallons and was roughly 60% full, they later said the tank held over 10 times that amount of white liquor – approximately 900,000 gallons. Roughly 90,000 gallons of material may remain inside the damaged tank, they said.

The implosion is the latest in a spate of incidents at industrial facilities, mills and plants in recent months, some of which have also been deadly.

Just this past week, officials raced to prevent an overheating chemical tank in California from exploding, prompting tens of thousands of residents to evacuate until pressure in the tank was reduced, eliminating the risk of a catastrophic blast. In April, a chemical leak involving nitric acid and another substance at a West Virginia plant killed two people and injured over a dozen others, The Associated Press reported.

In October of last year, more than 24,000 pounds of explosives detonated at a Tennessee explosives plant, killing 16 employees and making a blast so intense it registered as a 1.6 magnitude earthquake. And two months earlier, an explosion at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two workers and injured more than 10 others, one of whom was trapped in rubble, the AP reported.

Ongoing safety concerns at the Longview facility have complicated recovery efforts, the fire department said. The tank remains unstable, creating “hazardous conditions” for emergency responders, it said.

Local, regional and state agencies are coordinating with facility staff to “structurally reinforce and stabilize the site” and help with recovery efforts, which can safely resume on Wednesday morning, the fire department said.

State officials are planning to visit the facility, the agency added.

A spokesperson for PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center told CNN the hospital initially received nine patients, including one person who died in the incident. Two people were transferred to other facilities and six others were in “fair condition,” according to Jim Murez, the hospital’s communications manager.

Longview is about 50 miles north of Portland and about 130 miles south of Seattle.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Andi Babineau contributed to this report.