TheCable

A South Korean captain who fled to safety while his crew and passengers sank in a capsized ferry has been sentenced to 36 years in prison.

In April, a Sewol ferry with 476 people on board went down, leaving more than 300 people dead, most of whom were school students.

Lee Joon-Seok, alongside 14 others, was charged with multiple murder by the prosecuting counsels who said leaping to safety while abandoning passengers to death and injury was a violation of maritime law.

Although the prosecutors demanded the death penalty for the crew, the union of three judges ruling over the case acquitted Joon-seok of murder but sentenced him to 36 years in prison, while Park Gi-ho, the ferry’s chief engineer, who was guilty of murder, was sentenced to 30 years.

Lee, in his late 60s, accepted in court that he would spend the rest of his life in jail.

The disaster was blamed on a combination of illegal deeds, including the overloading of cargo and the inexperience of the crew member steering the vessel.

It was considered not the responsibility of just one man.

Lee apologised for abandoning the vessel and the students, having been filmed leaving the sinking ship with over 200 students and other passengers left inside the vessel.

Other members of the crew got 20-year jail terms for negligence.