Prosecutors 'want death penalty' for South Korean ferry captain
October 27, 2014
South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for the captain and life sentences for three other senior crew members of a ferry that sank in April, killing more than 300 people, Yonhap news agency said.
Prosecutors said the captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, should receive the death penalty for having failed to execute his duty, which amounted to homicide, according to Reuters news agency.
Yonhap said they requested life sentences for the three other key crew members on grounds of negligence for not having given proper protection to passengers when the ferry was sinking.
The four were among the first to be rescued when the Sewol ferry started keeling over during a routine voyage on April 16.
Nationwide grief
The prosecutors' call came as the trial in the southern city of Gwangju drew to a close. A verdict has yet to be handed down.
Authorities have blamed overloading, improper storage, ill-organized rescue measures and other negligence for the Sewol's capsize, one of South Korea's deadliest disasters.
Most of those who died in the catastrophe were schoolchildren. Only some 172 of the ship's 476 passengers survived.
The disaster triggered nationwide outpourings of grief and condemnation of the way President Park Geun-hye's government handled the rescue operation.
tj/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)