A chemical incident at a paper plant in the northwestern US has killed two people, with nine others missing and feared dead, officials said.
The accident at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, Washington state, happened during an early morning shift change when a 900,000-gallon tank containing a highly caustic substance called white liquor ruptured.
White liquor is a highly alkaline solution containing sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide that is used to break down wood chips and create the pulp from which paper is made.
Nine other people were injured, and specialist firefighters are still trying to establish where the missing people are.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson said the community of Longview was hit hard, and the incident may be the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.
