Two private security workers were found dead on board Maersk Alabama, the vessel whose hijacking by Somali pirates in 2009 gave rise to the Oscar-nominated film Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.
The deaths were confirmed by AP Moller-Maersk in a statement, which said that the two men were found dead in a cabin on the 1,092 teu containership on Tuesday in Port Victoria in the Seychelles, where it had berthed the previous day.
The workers were contracted out to Maersk from Trident Group, a security firm in Virginia, and were US citizens.
Maersk’s statement said that the cause of death for both men was part of an ongoing investigation, but it was not related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel.
Trident chief executive Thomas Rothrauf said in a statement on the group’s website that “there is no immediate indication of the cause of death, but the deaths were not caused by operational activity”.
He said that the families of the dead guards had requested for the men’s names to be withheld.
Maersk said in its statement that Trident had been hired in accordance with US Coast Guard security directives.