U.S. Opens Probe Into Navy Sailors' Deaths in Ghana Hotel

ACCRA, Ghana – The U.S. Embassy opened an investigation into the deaths of two U.S. Navy sailors in Ghana's capital, a naval official said Wednesday.

Their bodies were found in their room at the La Palm Beach Hotel in Accra on New Year's Eve, said the high-ranking official at the Tema Naval Base, about 18 miles from the capital.

There was no evidence of a robbery or of an attack on the sailors, said the official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The sailors were stationed aboard the USS Fort McHenry, which is on a seven-month voyage through the Gulf of Guinea aimed at training local law enforcement on maritime security.

"Three of them went out and checked in at La Palm Beach Hotel on Dec. 31 and on the next day, the third sailor found the two dead in their rooms and duly reported this to the hotel authorities," the official said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Ghana said the names of the dead sailors will not be released until their families have been contacted.