Chemical Leak at Plant Kills 2

A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business killed two people and sent 19 others to the hospital, including one in critical condition, authorities said. The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said. A chemical gas reaction occurred at the plant involving nitric acid and another substance, Sigman said at a news briefing Wednesday. He added that there was "a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted," the AP reports.

"Starting or ending a chemical reaction are the most dangerous times," Sigman said. Among the injured were seven ambulance workers responding to the leak, officials said. Other people were taken to the hospitals in private cars or, in one case, a garbage truck, Sigman said. Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center spokesman Dale Witte said patients were experiencing respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, and itchy eyes. A shelter in place order was issued for the surrounding area and lifted more than five hours later. "You had to get really close to the facility to smell it," Sigman said.

The leak required a large-scale decontamination operation in which people had to remove all their clothes and be sprayed down, authorities said. Catalyst Refiners works to remove silver from what remains of chemical processes and can find thousands of dollars of the precious metal just by vacuuming the floors in a plant's offices, Sigmon said. Ames Goldsmith Corp., the owner of Catalyst Refiners, said it is saddened by the deaths. "This is an unfathomably difficult time," said the company statement. Ames Goldsmith promised to work with local, state, and federal officials as they investigate. Institute is about 10 miles west of Charleston, the state capital.