The bodies of two Russian sailors from the crew of a foreign ship registered in Singapore, have been brought to Primorye, Interfax reports.
Viktor Ponomaryov, senior aid to the captain of the Singaporean ship, the Lantana, and Sergei Kalinin, the ship's senior mechanic, were found dead in a cabin in late January during the ship's journey from Indonesia to Singapore. Ponomaryov was aged 48 and Kalinin 45.
"The two bodies were handed over to police officials after the ship called at the port. Both sailors are believed to have died of heart attacks, but the cause of the suspected heart failure is yet unknown," the chairman of the Russian Sailors Union's Far East branch, Nikolai Sukhanov, told Interfax on Monday.
The Singaporean prosecutor's office has launched a criminal investigation.
"We asked our colleagues in the Singaporean sailors union to follow the investigation and keep us informed," he said.
Both sailors were residents of Nakhodka, where the union's Far East branch is based.
"We know both of them very well and their service record was positive," he added.
Substandard alcohol poisoning is ruled out, Sukhanov said.