Members of Captain Phillips’ crew found dead

You may recognize the name Maersk Alabama as  the container ship that Somali pirates famously attacked when they took Captain Richard Phillips hostage in 2009. The gripping tale of his heroism and quick thinking was brought to life on the big screen this past year, wowing audiences worldwide. In response to the susceptibility of attacks on this ship and others who travel through waters off the coast of Africa, these container ships hired guards and added other security measures.

The Maersk Alabama has recently been brought back to public attention after two of the guards, former Navy SEALs, were found dead on board. Police have said that the official cause of death is respiratory failure, with signs of myocardial infarction (heart attack). They have also reported that syringes and heroin were found in the cabin with the bodies of the two men.

Jeffery Reynolds and Mark Kennedy, both 44, died following a mysterious night of hard partying and gambling, which seems quite out of character for the two family men. Kennedy was in the Louisiana National Guard from 1988 through 1994, when he left in order to join the Navy SEAL program in 1995. He retired in 2010 with multiple medals and decorations. Reynolds enlisted in 1990 and served for 10 years, receiving medals for good conduct before being honorably discharged.

The mysterious story has been pieced together from security tapes and statements from workers at the establishments the two men attended that night. The two men went out drinking, traveling between bars and casinos in Seychelles. The manager of the last casino they were seen at said that he asked them to leave around 3 a.m. when he was closing. According to surveillance footage, the men met two women outside the casino  with whom they disappeared into a dark hallway. There are few details about the night as a whole, and none about what happened between the time they met the two unidentified women and the time their colleague found them dead at 4:30 p.m. the next day on Feb. 18.

Seychelles has a reportedly higher than average drug use rate, with 2.3 percent of the population abusing drugs. In addition, research has shown that veterans tend to be at high risk for drug abuse and related risky behaviors.

Even so, actions such as hard partying and drug use were completely unexpected and out of character for these two men. A neighbor of the Reynolds’ has said that they were “church-going people” and reported that Reynolds did not drink. People made similar comments about Kennedy. Friends and family were shocked as partying, gambling and drug use were not at all in his nature.

Kennedy and Reynolds seem unlikely candidates to have been killed by a drug overdose. The samples found with their bodies were sent to the lab, and police are conducting toxicology reports. Even so, their families may never find out the ultimate cause of their deaths, although many ship workers maintain that the real killer out on the open sea is boredom. For many working onboard these ships, the only excitement comes  at the cost of experimenting with dangerous and risky behaviors.