Washington Paper Mill Tank Implosion Kills 1 as 9 Workers Remain Missing

13 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 27

Nine workers were still unaccounted for Wednesday after a 900,000-gallon tank imploded at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington, killing at least one person and injuring nine.
About 500,000 gallons of caustic “white liquor” spilled in the blast, complicating recovery efforts; another 90,000 gallons remained in the tank and delayed crews expected to resume work Wednesday morning.
Eight employees and one firefighter were hospitalized, some with severe injuries, though officials said there was no direct risk to the wider community and later released the firefighter.
The cause of the implosion, which struck just after 7 a.m. Tuesday near the Oregon border, remains unclear as residents were told to avoid the area and nearby ditches.

With nine workers missing in a caustic spill, what are the real chances for a successful rescue operation?

What specific engineering failure caused a massive chemical tank to implode without any warning?

Given its history of safety violations, could stronger oversight have prevented this fatal plant disaster?