SEVEN MISSING

Survivors Say Factory Boss Made Them Stay at Work in Flood That Swept Away 11

With two dead and seven missing, the victims’ colleagues say nobody should have been on the job that day.

Survivors blasted a Tennessee plastics company for keeping workers on the job on Friday even as nearby flood waters rose, causing 11 people to be swept away when the plant was finally evacuated. At least two people were killed and seven remain missing, local news station WVLT 8 reported. The others clung to floating plastic pipes and were dumped half a mile away on a pile of debris, a survivor told the Knoxville News Sentinel. Managers at Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tenn., let employees move their cars as Hurricane Helene sent water from the nearby Nolichucky River surging into the company’s parking lot, but nobody was allowed to leave until the water was nearly waist high. The company released a statement saying it was “devastated by the tragic loss,” and that employees were dismissed when water began to cover the parking lot and the factory lost power. But considering the storm and the flood warnings, “We shouldn’t have been there that day at all,” the victims’ colleague told the Washington Post.