Their bodies were found by US forces who boarded the pirated vessel Quest after hearing gunshots. Negotiations had been under way to try to win their release.
Two pirates were killed and another 13 were captured by the US navy as they took control of the boat. The Quest was the home of Jean and Scott Adam, a couple from California who had been sailing around the world since December 2004.
The two others on board were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both from Seattle, Washington.
Four US navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, had been monitoring the Quest since the pirate attack on Friday.
Only minutes before the Americans’ deaths were announced, a Somali pirate told a journalist by phone that if the yacht was attacked ‘the hostages will be the first to go’.
An American intelligence expert said: ‘We have heard threats against the lives of Americans before but it strikes me as being very unusual why they would kill hostages outright.’
Gen James Mattis of US central command, said: ‘We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest.’
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