The seven crew members of MV Al-Bakhera were killed by a fellow, Akash Mondal, who was alegedly frustrated over unpaid wages and mistreatment, the Rab claimed yesterday after his arrest.

He put sedatives into the food on Sunday night, rendering everyone unconscious, before murdering the vessel's master Kibria in Kibria's cabin with a fire axe in the wee hours of Monday, the Rab said.

To avoid being caught, Akash hacked his seven other colleagues indiscriminately with the same axe, Major Sakib Hossain, a deputy commander of Rab-11, told a press conference at his office in Cumilla.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Akash, 26, who also goes by the alias Irfan, from Bagerhat's Chitalmari on Tuesday night.

The Rab said it recovered a glove, a bag, empty blister packs of sleeping pills, a pair of jeans with blood stains, and seven mobile phones -- five of the victims and two of Akash -- during the arrest.

In a press release, the Rab said Akash claimed he had acted alone, but the matter could be confirmed after further investigation.

Besides Kibria, 56, the master of the ship, engine operator Salahuddin Mia, 41, helmsman Aminur Munsi, 42, and crew members Sajibul Islam, 29, Majedul Islam Mojib, 16, Sabuj, 27, and Rana were killed in the attack. Another victim, helmsman Jewel, 23, survived with critical injuries. 

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7 stabbed to death aboard cargo vessel

The ship carrying 720 tonnes of urea fertiliser started for Sirajganj's Baghabari from Chattogram on Sunday morning. The killings occurred in the Meghna river when they reached Chandpur.

Akash told Rab officials during primary interrogation that he had purchased three blister packs containing 30 sleeping pills five days earlier.

Everyone except Jewel fell asleep after having dinner laced with the sedatives on Sunday night. Around 2:00am on Monday, Jewel and Akash anchored the vessel next to eight to 10 other vessels in the Sahara Beacon area of Chandpur.

After Jewel had his dinner and fell asleep, Akash fist hacked Kibria to death around 3:30am, the Rab said.

He later decided to kill the others, fearing he might get caught if they informed the law enforcers about him, Rab said.

When all other anchored ships left for their destinations around 5:30am, Akash started up Al-Bakhera but he lost control of the vessel and at one point it ran aground in the Majhirchar area. Akash then stopped a trawler and fled the ship.

Akash had been working in Al-Bakhera for about eight months. The employees of the ship had no leaves and there were delays in their payments, Akash told Rab.

Master Kibria used to embezzle their bills as well, he alleged. The ship's master also used to get angry with crew members without any reason and sack them when he was displeased with anyone.

Akash told Rab that he had asked everyone on the ship to protest, but no one responded to his call. Then he decided to teach the master a lesson, claimed Rab.

Major Sakib said they were investigating whether there are other reasons or anyone else involved in the incident, reports our Cumilla correspondent.

Responding to a 999 call, a team of river police went to the vessel around 3:00pm on Monday and recovered five bodies from crew quarters and three other wounded crew members, two of whom died later.

Lone survivor Jewel was transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His throat was slit.

Our correspondent from Chandpur adds, Mahbub Morshed Diplu, a partner of the vessel's owner Brishti Enterprise, filed a case with Haimchar Police Station on Tuesday night in connection with the incident.

In the case statement, Mahabub mentioned that Jewel was unable to speak since he had severe injuries in his throat. Jewel, however, was able to write and through writing, he revealed that the ship had nine people on board, including Akash alias Irfan, not eight as reported earlier.

After the incident, police inspected the ship and seized a bloodstained fire axe, a knife, two smartphones, two feature phones, a wallet, Tk 8,000 in cash, a notebook, headphones, and a tablespoonful of curry, among other items, as mentioned in the case statement.

Mahbub told The Daily Star last night that the owners were unaware of how many people were onboard since the master usually hires crew members as per need.