The head of a ferry operator was sentenced to seven years in prison in South Korea’s highest court over a ship sinking that killed more than 300 people.

Fifteen crew members from the sunken South Korean ferry have appeared in court before hostile spectators to enter pleas on charges of negligence and failing to save more than 300 dead or missing passengers.

South Korean prosecutors are seeking to formally arrest the head of the company that owns the Sewol ferry as part of a prove into its sinking, that left more than 300 people dead or missing, officials said.

South Korean prosecutors have detained the head of the company that owns the ferry that sank last month over an allegation of cargo overloading.

The official death toll in the South Korea ferry disaster reached 150 today as the grim work of recovering bodies from the submerged vessel continued.