# Chemical leak at West Virginia plant kills two and sends dozens to hospitals
Event date: 2026-04-22
A chemical leak at a silver recovery business in Institute, West Virginia, killed two people and sent about 30 others to hospitals, including one person in serious condition, according to authorities.
AP reports that the leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant while workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility. Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said the incident involved nitric acid and another substance that produced a violent chemical reaction. Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said the reaction likely generated toxic hydrogen sulfide during a cleaning process.
The immediate medical response was wide-ranging. Officials said seven ambulance workers were among the injured, and patients were taken to hospitals by ambulance, private car and, in one case, a garbage truck. Several hospitals treated people with respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, sore throat and itchy eyes.
A shelter-in-place order covered the surrounding area and was lifted more than five hours later. State officials said the deaths occurred on the plant site. Gov. Patrick Morrisey said one person was in serious condition and thanked the first responders who entered the danger zone.
The incident underscores the risks that come with industrial chemical handling, especially during shutdown or cleaning operations. Sigman said that starting or ending a reaction can be the most dangerous time, and the AP report says the reaction happened during a process that was believed to be a cleaning stage.
The plant, located near Charleston in West Virginia’s chemical valley, is part of a region long associated with hazardous industry. That history makes every new incident more than just a local emergency; it becomes another test of regulatory oversight, emergency planning and worker safety.
The company owner, Ames Goldsmith Corp., said it was saddened by the deaths and promised to work with local, state and federal investigators. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation, which is now the main route for determining exactly what went wrong and whether the plant’s procedures were adequate.
The AP report also notes that the surrounding air and water were believed to be unaffected. That is reassuring for the wider community, but it does not lessen the seriousness of the fatalities and hospitalizations already reported.
For Institute and the surrounding Kanawha County area, the immediate priority is medical care and decontamination. The longer-term question is whether this was a preventable process failure at a plant handling dangerous chemicals, or a broader industrial safety lapse that needs to be fixed before it can happen again.
