Police have opened an inquest into the death of two sailors aboard a ship which docked at Richard's Bay harbour last week.

Director Phindile Radebe on Monday said the bodies of the two, Eduard Edward Kalenykov, 46, from the Ukraine, and Alexander Vasilyevica Znavhrenko, 57, from Russia, were found in their rooms.

The ship had docked at the harbour to offload a consignment from China.

Another two sailors from the vessel, the MV Atlantic Eland, were taken to the Richard's Bay Hospital after they fell ill.

The pair, Serhiy Shylovsky, 50, and Andrey Tarasov, 50, both Russian, remain hospitalised.

The cause of the deaths are unknown, Radebe said.

Sapa

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