Weekend Community Support For Nippon—Classic Hits 100.7 KLOG News
June 1, 2026
Five days after a catastrophic tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging mill in Longview, officials announced Saturday that all of the workers reported missing have now been recovered and identified.
Brad Hannig said crews recovered the final missing employee Saturday afternoon, marking the completion of the search and recovery operation.
A massive tank containing the highly corrosive chemical known as white liquor failed last Tuesday, and investigators are still working to determine what caused the incident.
Dana Tucker released the names of the 11 workers who were killed: 52-year-old Gilbert Bernal of Kelso; 29-year-old Tyler Covington of Castle Rock; 27-year-old Brad Covington of Castle Rock; 48-year-old Robert Wilson of Clatskanie; 54-year-old Dale Miller of Portland; 35-year-old Jared Ammons of Longview; 38-year-old Braydon Finkas of Cathlamet; 26-year-old Clinton Doran of Kelso; 51-year-old John Forsberg of Longview; 58-year-old Norman Barlow of Vancouver; and 27-year-old Dillon Miller.
Of the seven hospitalized victims, four have been treated and released, while three remain hospitalized.
Environmental officials continue monitoring the spill’s impact on local waterways. Nearly 2,000 dead fish have now been collected from ditches and sloughs near the response area.
Despite the environmental impacts, officials say Longview’s drinking water remains safe. Water discharged into the Columbia River is testing within safe pH levels, and monitoring shows pH levels in the ditch network have returned to normal ranges.
Cleanup operations at the facility remain ongoing as crews continue removing remaining material from the site.
