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The captain of the South Korean sunken ferry was sentenced Tuesday to 36 years in prison for leaving more than 300 people dead by dismissing his duty of saving passengers.
The district court in Gwangju, some 330 km south of capital Seoul, sentenced Lee Joon-seok, 68, on charges of causing the victims, mostly high school students, to death as he did nothing to rescue the passengers while the ship capsized and sank off southwest South Korea on April 16.
Lee has been strongly criticized for abandoning passengers and being among the first to be rescued. Critics said the casualties increased as crew members ordered passengers to stay put though the vessel was sharply tilting.
Prosecutors originally sought a death penalty for Lee on a charge of murder, which the court did not accept.
The court said the skipper instructed the second mate to rescue passengers out of the tilting ship when the coast guard arrived at the scene, ruling that it would be hard to find the captain's willingness to drive the passengers to death.
The chief engineer, surnamed Park, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail. It was the second-heaviest punishment among 15 crew members on trial for the ferry sinking.
Thirteen other members, including the first, second and third mates and helmsman, received prison terms from five to 20 years.
Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence the first and second mates and chief engineer to life imprisonment.
The ruling came after the South Korean government announced an end earlier in the day to search operations for those still missing, citing bad weather and dangerous search conditions.
Among 476 passengers aboard the ship, merely 172 people were rescued, with 295 others confirmed dead. Nine remain missing.
For more than 200 days, divers had searched for the missing into the sunken ferry, which is listing almost 90 degrees to the portside in waters more than 40 meters deep.
The listing of the vessel created artificial barricades comprised of various furniture, such as beds and chairs, which blocked divers from entering into the left side of the ferry.
The body of one female student was recovered from the sunken ferry on Oct. 28, 102 days after one more body was found on July 18. Enditem
