(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles police have revealed the names of the two male US security officers onboard container ship Maersk Alabama who were discovered dead on the ship moored in Port Victoria late in the afternoon of February 18.

Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy, both aged 44, Reynolds and Kennedy worked for the Trident Group security firm in the USA, said a police statement.

"Their bodies were found in Kennedy's cabin by a colleague who went to check on him at around 4.30 pm yesterday. They were part of a ship crew of 24 members who arrived in Port Victoria on Sunday the 16th and were expecting to leave at 9 pm last night.

The case was reported to the Seychelles police at around 5 pm yesterday.

Seychelles police spokesperson Jean Toussaint told SNA that a post mortem will be carried out this week in order to establish the cause of their sudden deaths.

The police are investigating the incidents.

The Maersk Alabama is well known as it was attacked twice by Somali pirates in seven months in 2009, and one of the hijacking experiences was made into a Hollywood movie Captain Phillips, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, which was released in 2013.