Ten persons killed in boiler blast at Gopalganj

PATNA: At least ten people are feared dead while several others got injured after a boiler of Sasamusa sugar mill, located at Sasamusa village under Kuchaikot police station in Gopalganj district, exploded after midnight on Wednesday.
Kuchaikot police station SHO Awadesh Kumar said that three bodies were extracted from the explosion site, while ten seriously injured labourers were rushed to a hospital for treatment.
"Out of the ten, one injured labourer died during treatment. We suspect more bodies might be lying at the explosion site," the SHO said.
He said that the mill owner Mahmood Ali has been arrested by police and they were awaiting written complaint against Ali to take further action.
Meanwhile, sources said that explosion of the boiler resulted in explosion of another tank beside it, which contained hot freshly extracted sugarcane juice.

"The mill was constructed in the year 1932 and was in a highly dilapidated condition for past several years due to owner's negligence. Officers concerned also didn't took action on time to prevent the mishap," a senior government official said.
He also said that the mill owner was yet to clear dues running into several crores of rupees to the sugarcane farmers.

"The death count might go up as the season for extracting juices from sugarcane had just started a fortnight back and due to this reason several labourers were around the boiler even at midnight. The Kolkata-based owner was also stationed in Gopalganj due to the same reason," sources said.
They said search and rescue operation was going at the explosion site.
Lalu's younger son and leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad has reached RJD party office and he is expected to participate in the protests at Dakbungalow crossing.
Tejashwi has also attacked Nitish Kumar-led government over Gopalganj sugar mill incident, calling it an administrative failure. He has also demanded a detailed probe into the incident.