Police ID 2 Americans found dead on Maersk Alabama -- 'Captain Phillips' ship

By Michael Martinez, CNN

updated 1:46 PM EST, Thu February 20, 2014

Police: 2 Americans found dead on ship

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Two American security contractors were former Navy SEALs, executive says
• "It's bizarre. Of course, it's a shock. They're all great guys," executive adds
• "Contracted security is part of anti-piracy protection plans," firm spokesman says
• A colleague found the bodies in a ship cabin when checking up on one of the men

(CNN) -- Two American security officers have been found dead on the Maersk Alabama container ship, police in the Seychelles said Wednesday.

Seychelles police identified them on Thursday as Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy. The men, both 44, were found dead on Tuesday.

"A postmortem will be carried out this week in order to establish the cause of their sudden deaths," police said, adding that the police investigation is ongoing.

The 500-foot Maersk Alabama was targeted by Somali pirates in an attempted hijacking off the east coast of Africa in 2009. The 2013 film "Captain Phillips" is based on the incident.

Reynolds and Kennedy worked for Trident Group, a Virginia-based maritime security services firm. The company's president, Tom Rothrauff, said the men were former Navy SEALs.

"It's bizarre. Of course, it's a shock. They're all great guys," Rothrauff said. "I'm absolutely clueless as to what happened."

Kevin N. Speers, a senior director for Maersk Line, said in a statement that the security contractors boarded the vessel on January 29, and that their deaths were "not related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel."

Maersk Line contracts with Trident Group in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard security directives, Speers said in the statement.

"Contracted security is part of anti-piracy protection plans to safeguard crews and vessels," Speers said. "In Maersk Alabama's case, she is persistently in high-risk areas since she provides feeder service to the east coast of Africa."

The Maersk Alabama has since left Port Victoria, the Seychelles capital, Speers told CNN on Thursday.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel Tremper said the U.S. Coast Guard had been notified about the deaths of two U.S. citizens and is investigating, but "due to the nature of the investigation, that will be about all that we can provide right now."

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed the men were U.S. citizens. The Coast Guard is involved in the investigation because the Maersk Alabama is a U.S.-flagged ship, Harf said.

Police said the ship arrived in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, on Sunday with a 24-man crew and had been expected to leave Tuesday. The bodies were found by a colleague who had gone to check in on one of the men in a cabin at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Seychelles police said.

CNN first learned about the incident on Twitter.

In April 2009, four armed pirates attempted to hijack the Maersk Alabama 380 miles off the coast of Somalia. After the crew sank the pirates' vessel and foiled their efforts to take control of the container ship, the pirates took the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, hostage on a lifeboat. The incident ended three days later when Navy sharpshooters killed three of the pirates and captured the fourth. Phillips was unharmed.

The ship was attacked by pirates again later that year, but armed security personnel fought them off. Another attempt by pirates to board the ship, in March 2011, was thwarted when security personnel fired warning shots.

2010: Hero skipper ignored pirate warnings, crew says

2009: Crewman's e-mail gives harrowing details of hijacking

CNN's Deanna Hackney and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.