Patna: The mishap at Sasamusa sugar mill in Gopalganj district in which six persons died and an equal number of people were injured late on Wednesday night could have been averted had the area factory inspector inspected it.

The official had not visited to the mill, established in 1932, for over a year.

"Normally sugar factories are inspected once a year," said labour resources department principal secretary Dipak Kumar Singh. "In the Sasamusa case the factory inspector had not visited it for more than a year. The frequency of the visits could be more if there are complaints with regard to the plant. However, the boiler inspector inspected the sugar mill in October, prior to the start of the sugarcane crushing season, as mandated."

Dipak also said the mill was never modernised.

The safety engineer employed by the Sasamusa sugar mill fled after the incident, raising questions on the capabilities and duties discharged by experts employed by private factories.

"The chief minister has ordered inspection of all sugar factories in Bihar, beginning with the one at Riga in Sitamarhi district, which is also an old mill. He has also directed to inspect all industrial units in which boilers are being used," Dipak said.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar sent Dipak and industries department principal secretary S. Siddharth by helicopter to Gopalganj on Thursday to probe the incident, which was followed by massive public protests and violence.

Siddharth said the industries department will make available experts from eminent institutions located outside the state to find out the technical reasons behind the incident, in which a machine malfunctioned and spilled boiling sugarcane juice over the workers.

"The police will not be able to investigate the technical part of the mishap," Siddharth said. "Hence, the industries department will provide experts for this."