Security guards found dead on board Maersk Alabama |19 February 2014

Two security guards were found dead on board Maersk Alabama yesterday.

According to police reports, the two security guards whose identity was not revealed were found dead in their cabin.

The Maersk Alabama, a major merchant ship, was supposed to leave Port Victoria yesterday.

The police, who said they received report of the incident at 5.32pm yesterday, are investigating the incident.

The Maersk Alabama was twice attacked by Somali pirates in seven months in 2009.

Pirates first hijacked the Maersk Alabama in April 2009 and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.

The second pirate attack was in November 2009 and an on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones.

Based on the true story of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, the film Captain Phillips, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, was released last year.