Sewol Ferry captain sentenced to 36 years in jail + underwater search is called off

The families of Sewol victims are in an uproar as the Sewol Ferry captain and his 14 fellow crew members have been sentenced to jail instead of receiving the death penalty.

On November 11, it was announced that the homicide charge against Sewol Ferry Captain Lee Joon Seok was lowered to that of gross negligence and that he would be sentenced to jail for 36 years. Although prosecutors believed that he deserved capital punishment for the deaths of more than 300 people on the Sewol Ferry, the judges determined that Captain Lee did not intentionally murder the passengers and was simply negligent of his duties.

The judges also stated that he was not the only one responsible for the whole accident, noting that the ferry was overloaded with cargo and that the steering crew member was inexperienced. It is currently believed that the Sewol Ferry accident occurred while the ferry was making a tight turn, as the cargo, which wasn't secured, moved and toppled the vessel over. A BBC video explaining the incident is shown below.

Meanwhile, the chief engineer of the ferry, Park, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail. The 13 other crew members were given jail time up to 20 years for abandonment and violating maritime law. The coast guard that operated the day of the tragedy was also disbanded for not acting swiftly enough to save the passengers.

Sewol families reacted angrily to the verdict. According to the AFP news agency, one woman even screamed during the trial, "It's not fair. What about the lives of our children? They (the defendants) deserve worse than death."

Hours before the verdict was announced, the underwater search was also called off, despite the fact that nine bodies remain missing. The government says that they did this upon the victims' families request and found that this was a necessary call, as the dropping water temperatures and the slowly collapsing hull was making conditions dangerous for divers.

The Sewol families have asked the government to review the option of raising the vessel as a last resort to recover the bodies. The Central Disaster Management Headquarters will decide on whether to start raising the ferry after consulting experts.

Arirang News clip regarding the underwater search: