Two people were killed and 19 others were hospitalized after a chemical leak on Wednesday at a silver recovery facility in West Virginia, authorities said.
The leak took place at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute when workers were about to shut down part of the operation, according to Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman. A reaction involving nitric acid triggered what Sigman described as "a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted."
Seven first responders were among the injured as victims arrived at hospitals via both ambulance and private vehicles. One person remained in critical condition, according to Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango.
Patients reported respiratory symptoms, including coughing and shortness of breath, hospital spokesman Dale Witte said.
A shelter-in-place order was lifted after several hours, and all casualties occurred at the facility.
Sigman noted the smell did not spread far from the facility. "You had to get really close to the facility to smell it," he said.
Large Scale Decontamination Effort
The response required a large-scale decontamination effort in which people had to remove their clothing and be sprayed down. Victims reached hospitals through a variety of means—some by ambulance, others in personal vehicles, and in at least one case, a garbage truck, according to Sigman.Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center treated multiple patients, with community members arriving throughout Wednesday afternoon, Witte said. WVU Medicine Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston said it cared for a dozen patients, including eight who arrived by personal vehicle after being in the surrounding area at the time of the leak. The hospital said none of those injuries were considered life-threatening.
Five employees of the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority were also being evaluated as a precaution for potential exposure.
The identities of the two people who died were not released, pending family notifications.
At the state level, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said his administration was actively coordinating with county officials. The West Virginia Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Management Division, the Department of Health, and the Department of Environmental Protection were all working alongside local emergency management.
Ames Goldsmith Corp., the parent company of Catalyst Refiners, released a statement at a news briefing. "This is an unfathomably difficult time," company President Frank Barber said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families." The company pledged to cooperate with local, state, and federal investigators.
The plant is located in Institute, a community roughly 10 miles west of Charleston along the Kanawha River, in an area historically known as West Virginia's "chemical valley."
Kanawha County officials urged the public to rely only on official sources for updates, including the Kanawha County Facebook page, the Kanawha County Emergency Management Facebook page, and the Metro 911 Facebook page.