Bodies of Former Navy SEALs Found On "Captain Phillips" Ship

The bodies of two former Navy SEALs were found on board the Maersk Alabama, the same cargo ship which was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 and portrayed in the film Captain Phillips.

Few details about the deaths of the two men are known at this time. According to the L.A. Times, they were hired as private security contractors to protect the ship:

According to police,
Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy, both 44, were discovered dead by a
colleague who went to check on Kennedy late Tuesday afternoon while the
ship was moored in Port Victoria. No cause of death was given and an
investigation is underway. A.P. Moller-Maersk said in a statement, “The cause of the
death for both men is part of the ongoing investigation, but it was not
related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel.”

Reynolds and Kennedy both worked for Trident Security Firm USA, which identified the men as former Navy SEALs today.

According to Reuters, the contractors had come on board the ship less than a month ago:

Local law enforcement agencies were
investigating the deaths on the Maersk Alabama, which berthed in Port of
Victoria around midday on February 17. The security contractors had
boarded the vessel on January 29, Maersk said. Maersk
Alabama is part of a U.S.-flagged fleet controlled by Maersk Line
Limited, a unit in A.P. Moller-Maersk, which performs military,
government and humanitarian missions by transporting cargo on its
container, tanker and multi-purpose ships, according to the company’s
website.

It said the Maersk Alabama is
persistently in high-risk areas since it provides feeder service –
calling at smaller ports to collect containers that are later loaded on
bigger container vessels – to the east coast of Africa.

A 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, during which Captain Richard Phillips was held hostage by pirates in the Indian Ocean, inspired the Oscar-nominated film Captain Phillips.