Image: Kimmo Mäntylä / Lehtikuva

Two dead bodies were found overnight on the Tallink Silja Europa passenger cruise ship while it was anchored at a port in Tallinn, Estonia. The deceased were both Finnish citizens, one a 25-year-old woman and the other a 21-year-old man.

Estonian police say the first body was discovered at 3am and the second was found at 5am. They say that the incidents do not appear to be related and that neither case indicated that there had been any violence involved.

The bodies of the deceased have been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Estonian police say the deceased had spent the night in their cabins on the cruise ship while it was docked at the Tallinn port. The cabins were not located close to each other on the ship.

Tallink Silja communication director Marika Nöjd said that the bodies were both discovered by their fellow passengers, and an Estonian police patrol and ambulance were then called to the scene.

"Usually if someone dies on a ship, it is an older person. Now it seems as if this turn of events was purely a coincidence, as the deceased were travelling with different parties," she said.

Nöjd said that the passengers on the cruise ship did not exit the ship during the night.