Authorities identify 11 killed in Washington state chemical tank rupture
Authorities have identified all 11 people killed after a chemical tank rupture at a pulp and paper mill in Washington state earlier this week.
Calling it a "horrific tragedy," and likening it to the one of the worst for the community since the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, Cowlitz County Coroner Dana Tucker identified the victims at a press briefing on Saturday after authorities recovered the bodies of all the victims.
Nine employees were initially unaccounted for after the blast at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington.
The victims were identified as: Jared Ammons, 35; Gilberto Bernal, 52; Norman Barlow, 58; Tyler Covington, 29; Brad Covington, 27; Clinton Doran, 26; Braydon Finkas, 38; John Forsburg, 51; Dillon Miller; and Robert Wilson, 48.
"There are not enough words to express on how devastated we are right now," Geovana Bernal, the daughter of Gilbert Bernal, said in a statement.
"My father was the most selfless man I knew. He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much," she said. "He was going to celebrate his 32nd wedding anniversary with mom in just a couple weeks and he loved my son, his first grandson, so much."
She said Gilbert Bernal often helped out at his church, "volunteering his time to help repairs or help anyone in need."
"He was a great man, husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend," Geovana Bernal said. "We are so heartbroken."
Another worker killed in the incident was Jared Ammons, a father of two who had another child on the way, according to the law firm representing his wife.
Ammons had gone into work early that day so that he could attend his wife's prenatal appointment, according to the firm, Osborn Machler & Neff.
"When he didn't arrive, Mackenzie went with her sister, saw the first image of their unborn child, and returned home -- not yet knowing her husband was already dead, killed when the mill's 900,000-gallon white liquor tank ruptured," the law firm said in a press release.
A fundraiser for the family remembered Ammons as a "loving husband, devoted father, cherished son, and caring brother."
"His loss has left an unimaginable hole in the hearts of everyone who knew him," it said.
An attorney for the family of Norman Barlow shared a handwritten note from his daughter, Brooke Barlow.
"My dad, like everybody in this tragedy, was caring, so so smart and supportive," she wrote, adding that he "he was the whole world" to his grandchildren.
"He had hopes of retiring and moving out of state, somewhere with lot less rain," she wrote.
She said her father had worked in power plant refineries and refineries in California.
"Growing up he raised me as a single dad in the trades, it was hard but he made it look effortless," she wrote. "My best friend, my life line, my HERO."
Javier Sanchez told Portland ABC station KATU that Braydon Finkas was "probably one of the most selfless individuals you'll ever meet."
Friends said Finkas had recently built a home with his girlfriend and was preparing for a vacation, KATU reported.
"We're sad to see that their life has really been torn apart," Sanchez said. "They were just planning a trip to Italy in two weeks. He had a lot of surprises coming up for her that he had talked to us about, and we're sad that he's just not here to see all of their plans come to fruition."
