Sewol trial: Verdicts due in S Korea ferry case

South Korean judges are set to rule on whether the captain of a ferry which sank in April, killing more than 300 people, should be sentenced to death.

Lee Joon-seok is among the 15 crew on trial over the loss of the Sewol, one of South Korea's worst maritime disasters.

Most of the dead were schoolchildren on an excursion.

Nationwide grief at the disaster was followed by outrage, with revelations of mismanagement by ferry operators and lapses in the emergency response.

Hours before the verdict, the South Korean government called off the search for bodies in the sunken vessel.

A total of 295 bodies have been retrieved by teams of divers, but nine people still remain unaccounted for.

BBC