"The coroner of Cowlitz County confirmed the cause of death of 10 of the 11 workers who perished last month in the worst industrial accident in the state’s modern history."

"Ten of the 11 plant workers killed at a Longview, Wash., paper mill last month died from alkaline chemical burns, the result of caustic liquid that flooded out of a failed holding tank and through the plant.

Regulators are still investigating what caused the sudden explosion of a tank holding 600,000 gallons of “white liquor,” a caustic blend of chemicals used to turn wood pulp into packaging containers like milk and juice cartons. The explosion at the plant, Nippon Dynawave Packaging, was the deadliest industrial accident in Washington’s modern history.

On Thursday, the coroner in Cowlitz County, Wash., confirmed that the tank’s failure sent white liquor flooding into the factory on the Columbia River and the drainage system beyond it. The force of the explosion and the ensuing torrent flipped nearby trucks and blew holes in factory walls, according to photos released by investigators."

Anna Griffin reports for the New York Times June 11, 2026. [2]