Sewol trial: Ferry captain sentenced to 36 years in jail

The captain of the South Korean ferry which sank in April has been found guilty of gross negligence and sentenced to 36 years in prison.

The Sewol ferry was carrying 476 people when it went down. More than 300 died, most of them school students.

Lee Joon-seok was among 15 crew members on trial over the sinking, one of South Korea's worst maritime disasters.

Prosecutors charged him with homicide and called for the death penalty, but judges acquitted him on that charge.

Lee is in his late 60s, and he accepted in court that he would spend the rest of his days in jail, according to the BBC's Steve Evans in Gwangju.

The judges said that he was clearly not the only person responsible for the tragedy and they accepted that his negligence did not amount to an intent to kill.

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

Crew members did not secure cargo which moved when the vessel took a tight corner, toppling the ferry, and Lee was filmed leaving the sinking ship while many passengers remained inside.

During the trial, Lee apologised for abandoning them.

Fourteen other crew members were jailed on a raft of charges

The chief engineer of the ferry, identified by his surname Park, was found guilty of murder and jailed for 30 years.

Thirteen other crew members were given jail sentences of up to 20 years on charges including abandonment and violating maritime law.

Relatives of victims were distraught at the verdict, with some weeping.

The AFP news agency reported that one woman screamed in the courtroom: "It's not fair. What about the lives of our children? They (the defendants) deserve worse than death."

Stephen Evans, BBC News, Gwangju

When the judgement was handed down, there were cries of anguish and anger from some of the bereaved families in court. They had wanted the verdict to be murder as a mark of the seriousness of the negligence committed by the people in charge of the ship.

One bereaved father said after the judgement that he was 30 years old, and that if he had to wait 30 years for the guilty ship's officers to come out of jail, he would - and he would go after them.

The case has been the focus of wider anger. The man who will never face trial is the owner of the company.

The Sewol had been altered to take more cargo and in the process been made less stable. As the authorities pursued him, the chairman of the operating company, Yoo byung-eun, fled and was later found dead in a field.

Some relatives of victims have been staying at a gym near the site of the sinking since April

Just hours before the verdict, the South Korean government finally called off the search for bodies in the vessel, which sank on 16 April.

A total of 295 bodies have been retrieved by teams of divers but nine people remain unaccounted for.

The disaster triggered nationwide grief followed by outrage, and led to severe criticism of safety standards and of the government's handling of the rescue operation.

The South Korean coast guard is due to be disbanded and replaced with a new agency, after accusations that it did not act swiftly or aggressively enough to save lives.

Sewol victims

• 325 students aged between 16 and 17 from Danwon High School, south of Seoul, were on a school trip to the holiday island of Jeju when the ferry sank

• Only about 70 survived - many had obeyed orders to stay put as the ferry listed

• Several texted their family members goodbye and to tell them "I love you". One also filmed what turned out to be his last moments on his mobile phone inside the ship. The texts and footage were retrieved by parents and later broadcast on national television

• Some of the survivors later testified that they had to float out of cabins and most of the crew members did not attempt to help them

• At least three crew members died trying to evacuate passengers. They included an engaged couple, Jung Hyun-seon and Kim Ki-Woong, and the youngest crew member Park Ji-young, who gave her lifejacket to a passenger. All three have been named "martyrs" by the government

Images from the 16 April incident show Lee being rescued from the sinking ferry

At the end of the trial last month, Mr Lee said he had committed a crime for which he deserved to die - but denied that he had intended to sacrifice the lives of the passengers and asked not to be branded as a murderer.

The widespread outcry over the case had led to doubts over whether the crew would get a fair hearing.

A separate trial is taking place for employees of the firm that operated the ferry, Chonghaejin Marine Co.

The owner of the company and billionaire businessman Yoo Byung-eun disappeared after the disaster and was later found dead.

Meanwhile last week three of his relatives were jailed for embezzlement, while a French court is due to decide next month on whether to extradite Yoo's daughter on similar charges.