Heroin found in cabin of two former Navy SEALs who died on 'Captain Phillips' ship

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Security guards Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, died on Maersk Alabama in Seychelles last week
Officials say they died of respiratory failure possibly caused by drugs
Both served in the elite Navy SEALs before working for private defense contractor
The ship 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

By Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press Reporter

PUBLISHED: 10:49 EST, 24 February 2014 | UPDATED: 14:40 EST, 24 February 2014

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Two former Navy SEALs found dead aboard the Maersk Alabama last week had suffered respiratory failure caused by a possible heroin overdose.

Seychelles police today said security guards Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44, may have suffered heart attacks, with a syringe and traces of heroin found in their cabin.

The samples are being sent to Mauritius to establish if the drugs were responsible for the deaths.

Official: Seychelles police said Jeffrey Reynolds, 43 (left) and Mark Kennedy, 44 (right) died of respiratory failure

Security guard: Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, worked for Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group

Life of service: Mark Kennedy (left, and pictured with his wife Julia right) was a former Navy SEAL

After the incident, a government official told CNN the presence of drug traces and paraphernalia 'would suggest that their deaths were a result of drug overdose.'

Reynolds and Kennedy worked for Trident Group, a Virginia-based maritime security services firm.

The company's president, Tom Rothrauff, confirmed to CNN 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.'

More...

Before working as security guards, the men belonged to the SEALs, an elite unit of the military's special operations forces who are sometimes called upon to combat piracy.

The Maersk Alabama is a Norfolk, Va.-based container ship that provides feeder service to the east coast of Africa and employs security contractors to provide anti-piracy services.

Kevin N. Speers, a senior director for Maersk Line, said in a statement the deaths of Reynolds and Kennedy were 'not related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel.'

Work: Mark Kennedy was employed by Trident Group to work on the Maersk Alabama, which had been hijacked by pirates in 2009 and later dramatized on screen

Stash: Police say drugs were found in a cabin shared by Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44, aboard the Maersk Alabama

The Maersk Alabama ship gained international attention in April 2009 when four armed pirates tried to hijack it 380 miles off Somalia.

After the crew foiled their efforts to take control of the container ship, the pirates took the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, hostage.

The incident ended three days later when Navy SEALs killed three of the pirates and captured the fourth. Phillips was unharmed.

The incident was dramatized in the 2013 movie 'Captain Phillips' starring Tom Hanks.

Rescued: Captain Richard Phillips, (right), master of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama who had been captured by pirates with United States Navy Commander Frank Castellano

Hit movie: Tom Hanks starred as Captain Phillips in the 2013 movie which dramatized the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama in 2009 by Somalian pirates

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Max, California, 24 minutes ago

Something doesn't smell right with this story. Why would two Navy SEALs need/want to do drugs, esp heroin?

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Capt Dan, jupiter, 44 minutes ago

I don't understand the appeal of heroin and I never will. But, it must really be something to entice two guys who graduated from the best and most disciplined military training in the world. Perhaps just boredom. Sorry they didn't get a chance to use those hard won skills to lower the population of pirates.

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LFGreene-2012, Tallahassee, 56 minutes ago

Suuuuuuure they did. I was born at night, but not last night.

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LFGreene-2012, Tallahassee, 57 minutes ago

Suuuuuuure they did. I was born at night, but not last night.

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volley6man, easternvirginiaUSA, 1 hour ago

What a shame to make it through what is thought to be the toughest military training there is, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, hundreds of freefall jumps etc only to possibly die from a drug overdose.

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brenda, preston pons, 2 hours ago

My husband is a merchant marine and in his circles, this ship is considered to be cursed; she's been highjacked once, twice more had to fend off two more attempts. As for the former SEALS, also according to my husband, the Seychelles is pretty much an open market for anything you can imagine; legal, illegal and everything inbetween. Scuttlebutt in his ship is that these guys either tried drugs for the first time, or either got a batch of tainted or too-pure drugs.

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USmerchantmarine, Colchester, 51 minutes ago

The ship is an unlucky one.....it started when Philips nearly got it hijacked the first time and then the second time he managed it...he brought the bad luck...and it keeps on coming