Fury at 36-year term for S Korea ferry skipper

Enraged parents wept and screamed as a judge sentenced a South Korean ferry captain to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers when his ship sank earlier this year, killing more than 300 people, mostly high school students.

The highly anticipated verdict came on the same day officials called off searches for the final nine victims and reflects the continuing grief and finger-pointing over one of the worst disasters in South Korean history. Victims’ relatives immediately criticised the sentences for Captain Lee Joon-seok and 14 other crew members as too lenient. Lee was acquitted of a homicide charge, which carried a death sentence, because the court said there wasn’t proof he knew his actions would cause such a massive loss of life.

“Do you know how many children are dead?” one relative shouted out during the sentencing, according to Kook Joung-don, a lawyer for the relatives. “This isn’t right,” another screamed.