Death Penalty Possible For Captain Of Sunken South Korea Ferry

The captain of the ferry that sank off the coast of South Korea and claimed the lives of nearly 300 people could face the death penalty, the Mirror reported.

Lee Joon-seok and fourteen other crew members have been indicted in connection to the sinking of the 476-passenger Sewol on April 16. Most of the passengers, and victims, were from a local high school on their way to a resort on the island of Jeju when the ferry tilted on its side and sank.

Divers have recovered 284 bodies after weeks of searching the ship's remains. Twenty are still missing.

The captain, along with a first mate, a second mate and a chief engineer are accused of being one of the first to abandon the ship in rescue boats as it began sinking. They are all charged with manslaughter.

The remaining 11 crew members are facing charges of negligence and abandonment, Seoul prosecutors said, the Mirror reported.

Lee could still face the death penalty, the maximum punishment for manslaughter, even though South Korea's Supreme Court placed a moratorium on capital punishment after the last person received the death penalty in 1997, according to the Associated Press.

The captain told passengers to remain on the ferry when it began to tilt. The ferry had been sinking for nearly thirty minutes before passengers were told to evacuate. Only 172 passengers survived.

Lee said he held back on the evacuation order because rescue teams had not yet arrived and he was afraid the water was too cold for the passengers, according to the AP.

Investigators believe the ferry sank due to an overloading of the ship's cargo, which had three-times the cargo limit the day it capsized. The head of the company that owns the ferry, Kim Han-Sik, is also facing manslaughter charges.

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