A former South Korean coast guard ship commander was yesterday jailed for four years after being convicted of manslaughter in last year’s Sewol ferry disaster, which killed more than 300 people.
A court in the southern city of Gwangju, South Korea, found Kim Kyung-il guilty of professional negligence resulting in death, a court spokesman said by telephone.
Prosecutors said that Kim, whose vessel was the first to arrive as the Sewol listed and sank, bore responsibility for the botched rescue effort that wasted time and delayed the evacuation of passengers.
He was also charged with making a false report that he had broadcast an evacuation order through loudspeakers.
The overloaded and unstable Sewol was carrying 476 people when it capsized off the southern island of Jindo on April 16 last year. Of the 304 who died, 250 were students from the same high school.
The tragedy — blamed by many on regulatory failings, official incompetence and the ship’s illegal redesign — plunged South Korea into mourning.
The official response to the disaster was widely criticized for being slow, uncoordinated and unfocused, and prompted South Korean President Park Geun-hye to vow a complete overhaul of national safety standards.
More than 50 people have been put on trial on charges linked to the sinking, including 15 crew members who were among the first to climb into lifeboats.
The Sewol’s captain was jailed in November last year for 36 years for gross negligence and dereliction of duty, while three other senior crew members were sentenced to jail terms from 15 to 30 years.
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