Deaths of US Navy Sailors Remain a Mystery

... No Foul Play Suspected
Accra -- The U.S. Embassy in Ghana opened an investigation into the deaths of two U.S. Navy sailors in Accra.

A statement released by the Navy identified them as Patrick Mack, 22, of Warren, Mich., and Lonnie Davis Jr., 35, of Riverdale, Ga.

Their bodies were found in their room at the La Palm Beach Hotel in Accra on New Year's Eve, 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 an official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Although preliminary indications point to the possibility the sailors drank a lethal amount of alcohol, an official said the Navy is awaiting toxicology test results before determining cause of death.

The bodies will be flown to Germany for toxicology tests, but the U.S. Navy does NOT suspect foul play.

The sailors were stationed aboard the amphibious 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.

"There's no immediate evidence" of foul play, Lt. Patrick Foughty, a spokesman for the 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, told a newspaper.