SEOUL // The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people, most of them schoolchildren, apologised in court on Wednesday for his failure to rescue passengers in the country’s worst maritime disaster for decades.
“I have committed a grave crime. I am sorry,” Lee Joon-seok, said the 68-year-old captain.
Anger and grief gripped the nation after the disaster, and president Park Geun-hye’s government was heavily criticised for what was seen as a botched rescue operation.
The overloaded ferry Sewol had capsized while making a turn on a routine voyage to the holiday island of Jeju. The victims totalled 304 people killed or missing.
Lee was among 15 crew members accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling the passengers to stay put in their cabins.
Four, including the captain, face homicide charges. Capt Lee has denied any intent to kill.
The rest face lesser charges, including negligence.
“I know I can’t get out of the prison no matter how much my lawyer and God help me. But I can’t have my children and grandchildren called a murderer’s family,” Capt Lee said.
“I have never had any intent to kill.”
Video footage of the crew abandoning the vessel after instructing the passengers, mostly teenagers, to remain in their cabins caused outrage across South Korea.
Some crew drank beer while waiting for rescue, one of them told a court, in an admission that fuelled greater anger at their conduct during a critical time during the disaster.
* Reuters
