The blast occurred around 11:00 a.m. at the company’s research and development site, which works on advanced weapons technologies, rocket systems and aerospace projects.

Hanwha Aerospace CEO Son Jae-il said the accident may have occurred during the cleaning of equipment used in rocket propellant production, where explosive residue could have remained on tools.

The company pledged a comprehensive review of its safety procedures following the deadly incident. Political parties also announced they would scale back election campaign activities ahead of local elections as a mark of respect for the victims.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant in Longview, where a massive storage tank containing a highly caustic industrial chemical ruptured during an early morning shift change, triggering a large-scale emergency response and search operation.

“We have recovered the ninth and final missing employee of this incident,” Longview Fire Department Chief Brad Hannig told reporters, confirming the end of the recovery effort.

Authorities had earlier reported two fatalities immediately following the accident, while nine workers remained unaccounted for amid difficult search conditions inside the industrial complex.

According to officials, the accident involved a 900,000-gallon tank holding a substantial quantity of white liquor, a chemical solution widely used in paper production. The tank ruptured after what authorities described as an implosion, releasing large volumes of the substance within the facility.

White liquor is a highly alkaline mixture containing sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. In the pulp and paper industry, it is used to break down wood chips into pulp, a key step in paper manufacturing.

The scale of the tank and the hazardous nature of the chemical complicated rescue and recovery efforts throughout the week, prompting a major response from local emergency services.

The facility is operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Japan’s Nippon Paper Group. According to company information, the plant manufactures paper-based packaging products and produces approximately eight billion single-serve containers annually for customers across North America, Asia and other international markets.

Authorities have not yet released details regarding the cause of the tank failure. Investigations into the incident are expected to examine operational procedures, equipment integrity and workplace safety conditions at the facility.

The accident ranks among the deadliest industrial incidents in Washington state in recent years and is likely to intensify scrutiny of chemical storage and safety practices within the pulp and paper manufacturing sector.

Officials halted rescue operations on Monday evening following assessments by emergency crews using life-detection equipment at the site of a building under construction that collapsed at dawn on Sunday in Angeles City, north of Manila. Recovery teams on Tuesday focused on retrieving remains from the debris field.

At least four people have been confirmed dead, including a Malaysian national whose body was recovered from a neighboring hotel struck by the collapse. Sixteen others, most of them construction workers, remain unaccounted for, according to authorities.

The tragedy has left families waiting anxiously for news. Lea Casilao said she feared her husband, Joselito, was among those trapped after he spent Saturday night at the workers’ barracks near the construction site. The couple had exchanged messages until the evening before the collapse, but his customary morning response never arrived.

Casilao said she went directly to the site after being unable to contact him and found a scene of twisted steel, shattered concrete and collapsed scaffolding. Speaking from a temporary shelter near the disaster zone, she said her hopes of finding her husband alive had disappeared after rescue operations were called off.
Emergency officials acknowledged the anguish facing families as the mission transitioned from rescue to recovery. Maria Leah Sajili, an information officer with the regional Bureau of Fire Protection, said rescuers had exhausted all available measures to locate survivors before concluding that no signs of life remained beneath the wreckage.

Among those confirmed dead was the father of 19-year-old Evelyn Alicaway. She said she recognized him in footage circulating on social media showing rescuers attempting to recover victims from the debris. Alicaway spoke at her father’s funeral, describing the emotional toll of identifying him through the images.

The collapse has also intensified scrutiny of the project’s compliance with construction regulations. Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and whether the development exceeded the conditions of its approved permit.
Investigators are examining reports that the building had authorization for nine stories, while a swimming pool was being constructed on a tenth floor at the time of the collapse.

Records show that the Philippine labor agency suspended work at the site in September 2025 over safety violations. The stop-work order was lifted a month later after the company was deemed to have complied with regulatory requirements.

Relatives of the victims have called on the project’s owners to cooperate with authorities and provide assistance to affected families as investigations continue.

The blast struck the Liushenyu mine shaft on Friday while 247 workers were underground, making it China’s deadliest mining accident since 2009. Authorities said hundreds of rescuers, medical personnel and emergency specialists have been deployed to the site as efforts continue to locate the remaining missing workers.

State media reported that 128 injured miners had been transported to hospitals by Saturday evening, while rescue crews worked around the clock in hazardous underground conditions. Teams reportedly deployed robotic equipment to assess conditions inside the shaft and assist in the search operation.

Police sealed off access roads leading to the mine as emergency operations intensified. Rescue personnel were seen rotating in shifts to descend into the damaged shaft in hopes of finding survivors.

Chinese authorities have launched a formal investigation into the disaster. Preliminary findings indicate that the mine operator, identified as Shanxi Tongzhou Group, committed what officials described as serious legal and safety violations.

According to authorities, more than half of the workers underground at the time of the explosion had not been properly registered before entering the mine. Regulations require miners to complete facial-recognition verification or carry location-tracking identification devices before descending into operational shafts.

Officials said an individual responsible for the company has been taken into custody under Chinese law as investigators examine potential breaches of safety protocols and operational regulations.

The disaster prompted intervention by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, which ordered nationwide inspections and stricter enforcement measures targeting illegal mining activities, falsification of safety records, inaccurate worker headcounts and unauthorized contracting practices.

Survivor Wang Yong told state broadcaster CCTV that he smelled sulfur moments before the explosion. He said a cloud of smoke rapidly spread through the mine, causing panic among workers attempting to escape. Wang recounted seeing colleagues overcome by fumes before losing consciousness and later regaining awareness more than an hour afterward.

International leaders offered condolences following the accident. Sanae Takaichi expressed hope for the rescue of remaining workers, while Narendra Modi extended sympathies to affected families. Lai Ching-te said Taiwan was prepared to provide humanitarian assistance if needed.

The explosion occurred in Shanxi, the heart of China’s coal industry and one of the country’s largest coal-producing regions. Despite improvements in mine safety standards over recent decades, fatal accidents continue to occur as authorities grapple with enforcement challenges in an industry that remains critical to China’s energy supply.

The catastrophe is the deadliest mining disaster in China since a 2009 explosion in Heilongjiang killed 108 miners. It also surpasses the toll of a 2023 open-pit mine collapse in Inner Mongolia that claimed 53 lives.
China remains the world’s largest consumer of coal and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, even as it continues to expand renewable energy generation capacity at a record pace.

The explosion occurred late on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan County, where 247 workers were on duty underground at the time of the accident, according to state news agency Xinhua. Rescue operations were continuing on Saturday as authorities worked to locate remaining workers and assess conditions at the site.

The mine is operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Group Liushenyu Coal Industry, a company established in 2010 and controlled by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Coking Group, according to corporate records.Local emergency management authorities said the cause of the explosion remained under investigation.

Shanxi, China’s leading coal-producing region, has long been at the center of the country’s mining industry and has experienced numerous major industrial accidents over the decades.President Xi Jinping ordered authorities to spare no effort in treating the injured and conducting search-and-rescue operations, according to Xinhua.

He also called for a comprehensive investigation into the disaster and accountability for those found responsible under the law.Premier Li Qiang urged officials to ensure the timely release of information and enforce rigorous accountability measures as investigations proceed.

Xinhua reported that executives linked to the company operating the mine had been detained following the accident.Provincial authorities dispatched seven rescue and medical teams comprising 755 personnel to the disaster site, according to Qinyuan’s emergency management bureau.

China has significantly reduced fatalities in its coal mining sector over the past two decades through stricter safety regulations, modernization efforts and tougher enforcement standards.

Nevertheless, gas explosions and other underground hazards continue to pose risks in some mining operations.

The previous deadliest coal mining disaster in China occurred in 2009, when a coal and gas outburst at a mine in Heilongjiang province killed 108 people and injured 133.

The incident occurred at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, southeast of Los Angeles, where a storage tank holding about 7,000 gallons (26,000 liters) of methyl methacrylate developed a leak. Emergency officials warned that the situation posed significant risks to nearby communities due to the chemical’s flammable nature and the possibility of a thermal runaway reaction.

Incident Commander Craig Covey said emergency planners were preparing for two primary scenarios: a complete tank failure resulting in a large chemical spill or an explosion that could affect neighboring tanks containing fuel and other hazardous materials.

“We are setting up these evacuations in preparation for these two options,” Covey said, describing the threat as serious and requiring immediate precautionary measures.

Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said approximately 40,000 people were covered by the evacuation order, although several thousand residents chose to remain in their homes despite warnings from authorities.

Emergency crews continuously sprayed water on the tank in an effort to reduce its temperature and stabilize conditions. Later on Friday, Covey reported that cooling operations had succeeded in lowering the tank’s temperature to about 61 degrees, closer to what officials described as a safe operating range.

Authorities continued searching for alternatives that could further reduce the risk of either a major spill or an explosion.

Orange County Health Officer Regina Chinsio Kwong said the evacuation zone was established to protect residents from potential exposure to hazardous vapors in the event of a catastrophic failure.

She urged the public to report any detection of a strong fruity odor associated with methyl methacrylate, while noting that the smell alone did not necessarily indicate harmful exposure levels.

No injuries had been reported as of Friday evening, and officials had not determined the cause of the leak, which was first identified on Thursday.

Emergency responders were also preparing containment measures to prevent any released chemical from entering storm drains, waterways or channels that flow into the Pacific Ocean.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, methyl methacrylate can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory system. Acute or prolonged exposure may also result in respiratory and neurological effects.