( 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 .
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 . Comment: