Captain of capsized South Korean ferry gets 36 years in prison

Captain of capsized South Korean ferry gets 36 years in prison
(Image credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

The captain of a ferry that sank in South Korea in April, killing more than 300 people, was convicted of professional negligence and received a 36-year prison sentence on Tuesday.

Capt. Lee Joon Seok could have been given a death sentence, which is a rare punishment in South Korea. The chief engineer received a 30-year sentence, and 13 other crew members each were sentenced to up to 20 years, South Korean media is reporting.

The Sewol was headed from Incheon to the island of Jeju when it sank, and many of the passengers who died were teenage students on a field trip. Since the accident, 295 bodies have been recovered from the water, but nine are still missing.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.