LONGVIEW, Wash. — The wife of a worker killed in Tuesday’s deadly Nippon Dynawave mill implosion in Longview is calling for answers as state and federal investigations get underway.
Officials said Thursday that six of the nine people initially reported missing have now been recovered from the facility, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight.
Recovery operations continued throughout the day following the catastrophic failure of a large chemical tank at the mill.
Longview Fire Chief Brad Hannig said during a Thursday afternoon news conference that each victim recovered from the site is being decontaminated before being transferred to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office for identification and family notification.
“The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care, and respect possible,” Hannig said.
Hannig said crews are working to recover each victim as quickly as possible, but the facility remains a hazardous environment. Officials have warned the death toll could rise to 11, which would make the incident the deadliest industrial disaster in modern Washington state history.
Gov. Bob Ferguson has already described the implosion as the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern state history.
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Mackenzie Ammons said her husband, Jared Ammons, went into work early Tuesday morning so he could leave in time to accompany her to a prenatal appointment later that day.
When he did not arrive, Ammons said she attended the appointment with her sister, saw the first image of the couple’s unborn child, and returned home — not yet knowing her husband had already been killed in the explosion.
Ammons said she has been haunted by conversations with her husband about what he described as unsafe conditions at the mill.
He told me things,” Ammons said. “He and his friends talked, and I heard that things weren’t right. I need the state to make sure that comes out.
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Her attorney, Simeon Osborn of the Seattle-based law firm Osborn Machler & Neff, said his firm is closely monitoring investigations by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which opened a formal investigation Wednesday.
“If we think for a second that these investigations are lacking in any way, we stand ready to pursue the truth independently — for Mackenzie Ammons, and for every family involved in this tragedy,” Osborn said.
Osborn said he has also been in contact with others affected by the incident who share similar concerns about the operation of the plant.
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The families of the men and women who will never come home from their Tuesday morning shift deserve a full, unvarnished accounting of what happened,” Osborn said. “We will watch every step of these investigations to ensure that Nippon Dynawave does not attempt to create a protective narrative or shield itself from accountability.
“If there were safety issues, investigators must transparently produce those facts so that employees of the company and the Longview community get the answers and the accountability they deserve,” he added.
Osborn also reflected on the loss facing the Ammons family.
“Jared Ammons went to work that morning with every intention of being there when he saw an image of his child for the first time,” Osborn said. “He never got that chance. The least this company can do is make sure his family gets the truth.”
