Briefly

UNITED STATES

Chemical accident death toll rises to 11

The death toll from a chemical spill at a paper plant in Washington state has risen to 11 as rescuers recovered the bodies of all nine missing people, authorities said on Saturday. A huge tank holding millions of liters of a highly caustic substance imploded on Tuesday at the plant in Longview, Washington state, sparking a major search operation. "We have recovered the ninth and final missing employee of this incident," said Brad Hannig, fire chief of Longview Fire Department. Rescuers said on Wednesday that two people had died while nine others remained missing.

NETHERLANDS

Hantavirus-hit ship gets nod to sail again

A cruise ship that sparked a global health alert over a deadly outbreak of hantavirus was cleared on Saturday to sail again after cleaning and disinfection. "From a public health perspective, there are no longer any obstacles to putting the Hondius back to sea," the public health agency in the Dutch port of Rotterdam said on Friday. During the checks, infection control experts determined that "disinfection had been carried out in accordance with established guidelines", a statement said.

Agencies via Xinhua