Five killed in boiler explosion at sugar mill, owner arrested

Five persons were killed and 10 others injured, two of them seriously, when a boiler exploded at a sugar mill in this district early today, police said.
After the boiler explosion, angry workers set afire vehicles parked inside the premises of the Sasa Musa Sugar Mill, blaming the accident on the owner's "failure" to get the machinery repaired despite complaints, police said.
The owner has been arrested along with his two sons.
"Five bodies have been recovered from the site of the incident. Identity of one of the deceased could not be established while the remaining four have been identified," the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kuchaykot police station, Awadhesh Kumar said.

"The deceased are Kripa Yadav, Kanhaiya Sharma and Vishwakarma Yadav - all residents of nearby Khajuri village - and Shamsuddin Ansari from Padrauna in Uttar Pradesh", he said.
Taking serious note of the incident, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of Rs four lakh to the next of the kin of each deceased and also dispatched teams of the National Disaster Relief Force and the State Disaster Relief Force to the site of the incident for carrying out relief work.

The chief minister also ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident. He directed principal secretary, Sugarcane Industries, S Siddharth and principal secretary, Labour, Deepak Kumar Singh to personally visit the site of the incident and carry out an investigation.

The Kuchaykot SHO said out of the 10 persons admitted to Gopalganj Sadar hospital with burn injuries, condition of two is critical and they have been sent to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).
According to Superintendent of Police, Gopalganj, Mrityunjay Kumar, the explosion took place at around 2 am.
He said rescue operations were disrupted as angry workers indulged in arson, setting fire to the vehicle of the mill owner and a tractor, both of which were parked inside the mill premises.
"The angry workers alleged that the boiler was in need of repair for long but the owner paid no heed. The owner, Mehmood Ali, and his two sons Rinky Ali and Siksy Ali have been arrested", the SP added.