Ferry Boat Captain Receives 36 Year Prison Sentence

The captain of the Sewol ferry boat will likely die in prison considering his age, but I am surprised how the engineer was convicted of murder and not the captain:

A district court on Tuesday sentenced the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol to 36 years in prison for abandoning passengers at the time of the deadly sinking.

Lee Joon-seok, however, was acquitted of charges that he murdered 304 passengers as he left them behind while he was the first to be rescued when the ill-fated ship was sinking off South Korea’s southern coast on April 16.

The Gwangju District Court in this southern city convicted the 68-year-old skipper of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, including abandoning his ship while the passengers, most of them high school students on a school trip, remained trapped inside the ship.

“Captain Lee ordered the second mate to tell passengers to get off the ship when the patrol ship was about to arrive at the scene,” judge Lim Jung-yeob said in his ruling. “It is hard to conclude that the captain’s act eventually led to the death of the passengers just based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution.”

Prosecutors, who had earlier sought the death penalty against Lee, said they would immediately appeal the verdict.

In the same ruling, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the ship’s chief engineer, only identified by his surname Park, to 30 years in prison, convicting him of murder.

Prison terms ranging from five years to 20 years were delivered to 13 other crew members, including the first engineer surnamed Sohn, who have been charged with abandonment and violation of a ship safety act. (Yonhap)

I do find it interesting how these crew members are deservedly getting smashed with these sentences while the corporate owners and aids of the ferry boat company who in my opinion are the biggest villains get a slap on the wrist.