May 26 (UPI) — An implosion at a manufacturing facility in Washington killed multiple people and injured 10 others, including a firefighter, local authorities said Tuesday.
The implosion at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Longview, Wash., happened around 7:20 a.m. The facility is a pulp and paper mill, and the implosion involved a vat of a chemical used in paper treatment called white liquor.
White liquor is made of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate, Cowlitz County fire chief Scott Goldstein told NBC News.
The Longview Fire Department said there was no immediate threat to the public, but the implosion killed multiple people and caused chemical burns and other injuries to others. Officials transported multiple people — including one firefighter — to hospitals in Longview and Vancouver.
Officials haven’t specified how many were among the dead. The Seattle Times reported that emergency responders were also searching for potentially missing people.
Goldstein said some of the injuries were minor while others were more critical.
Washington State Department of Ecology spokeswoman Anna Izenman told The Times that spill responders were on site evaluating any potential environmental impacts from the incident. She said white liquor can’t be collected and cleaned up in the same manner as oil; it can only “self-neutralize” with water over time.