What happened to Odysseus’ Crew?

Odysseus' crew dies because they opened the sack given to him by Aeolus, which contained the winds that were meant to help them get home. When they opened the sack, the winds flew out and created a storm that carried them away from their home and back to the Aeolian island. Additionally, many of Odysseus' crew perished during their return home due to a heavy gale, which drove them out to sea and caused Ajax to drown. Furthermore, the crew was also killed by the suitors of Penelope, who had taken over Odysseus' estate and were determined to prevent his return. The suitors had been sacrificing animals and drinking Odysseus' wine, and they were willing to use force to keep Odysseus away. Additionally, the crew's actions of killing and feasting on the sacred cows of the sun god, Helios, angered the gods and caused them to send a storm that destroyed the ship and killed the crew. Furthermore, the crew was also betrayed by the Thesprotians, who had plotted to sell Odysseus into slavery and had bound him with a strong rope.

Here are the top passages from The Odyssey related to the question:

“The ship ran before a fresh North wind till we had reached the sea that lies between Crete and Libya; there, however, Jove counselled their destruction, for as soon as we were well out from Crete and could see nothing but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our ship and the sea grew dark beneath it. Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts and the ship went round and round and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men fell all into the sea; they were carried about in the water round the ship looking like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again. I was all dismayed. Jove, however, sent the ship’s mast within my reach, which saved my life, for I clung to it, and drifted before the fury of the gale. Nine days did I drift but in the darkness of the tenth night a great wave bore me on to the Thesprotian coast. There Pheidon king of the Thesprotians entertained me hospitably without charging me anything at all—for his son found me when I was nearly dead with cold and fatigue, whereon he raised me by the hand, took me to his father’s house and gave me clothes to wear.

“Nine days and nine nights did we sail, and on the tenth day our native land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we could see the stubble fires burning, and I, being then dead beat, fell into a light sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands, that we might get home the faster. On this the men fell to talking among themselves, and said I was bringing back gold and silver in the sack that Aeolus had given me. ‘Bless my heart,’ would one turn to his neighbour, saying, ‘how this man gets honoured and makes friends to whatever city or country he may go. See what fine prizes he is taking home from Troy, while we, who have travelled just as far as he has, come back with hands as empty as we set out with—and now Aeolus has given him ever so much more. Quick—let us see what it all is, and how much gold and silver there is in the sack he gave him.’