The captain of the South Korean ferry that sink in April, killing more than 300 – the vast majority of them children on a school trip – has been given a 36 year prison sentence.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty of Lee Joon-sook, who had abandoned the overloaded ferry while hundreds of passengers and crew remained trapped inside.
However, the court in the city of Gwangju found 68-year-old Lee not guilty of murder but guilty of a lesser charge of gross negligence and dereliction of duty.
The ferry Sewol had capsized while making a turn during a voyage to the holiday island of Jeju.
