Sixteen contractors were hospitalized following an incident at the paper mill in Coving...

Sixteen contractors were hospitalized following an incident at the paper mill in Covington Wednesday night, and all 16 left the emergency room that night.

Covington residents said they were glad to hear all 16 contractors were able to leave the emergency room. Larry Peters, who lives on Magazine Street near the mill, said he did not hear the incident happen and only learned about it from the news. "I didn't hear until I was on the news, but I didn't hear no blast, nothing. And then I just started hearing it on the news that there was a blast over there and there was a chemical problem," Peters said. He said there have been chemical issues like Wednesday's incident over the years, along with daily reminders from the mill like soot and ash.

Peters, a retired logger, said the mill created a living for him and hundreds of others, and nearly everyone interviewed emphasized how much the city needs the mill. This is not the first safety incident at the mill this year: online records show OSHA has an active investigation into the mill that began July 14 and is ongoing, and OSHA records show the company was fined more than $31,000 for two health violations last year. Smurfit-Westrock said it cannot comment on pending issues or litigation and has no updates as the incident is still being investigated.

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Source note: Star News TV · Oct 15, 2026 10:18 PM.