A district court on Tuesday sentenced the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol to 36 years in prison for abandoning passengers at the time of the deadly sinking. 

Lee Joon-seok, however, was acquitted of charges that he murdered 304 passengers as he left them behind while he was the first to be rescued when the ill-fated ship was sinking off South Korea's southern coast on April 16.

The Gwangju District Court in this southern city convicted the 68-year-old skipper of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, including abandoning his ship while the passengers, most of them high school students on a school trip, remained trapped inside the ship.

"Captain Lee ordered the second mate to tell passengers to get off the ship when the patrol ship was about to arrive at the scene," judge Lim Jung-yeob said in his ruling. "It is hard to conclude that the captain's act eventually led to the death of the passengers just based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution."

Prosecutors had earlier sought the death penalty against Lee.

In the same ruling, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the ship's chief engineer, only identified by his surname Park, to 30 years in prison, convicting him of murder.

Prison terms ranging from five years to 20 years were delivered to 13 other crew members, including the first engineer surnamed Sohn, who have been charged with abandonment and violation of a ship safety act.

Prosecutors largely blamed Lee and the 14 crew members, saying that the victims were told to stay put while the captain and crew hurriedly left the sinking ferry.

The families of the victims who were present in the court reacted furiously to the murder acquittal.

"So many children have died," one of the family members shouted at the judge. "Is this the price of our children's lives?"

It was largely expected that Lee could have received the death sentence for the homicide charges. The country has not executed anyone since late 1997, though courts occasionally deliver the punishment.

The ruling came just hours after the government terminated the nearly seven-month search of the sunken vessel, with nine passengers still unaccounted for, citing the collapsing interior and worsening sea conditions.

The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol sank in waters near the southwestern port of Jindo en route to the southern resort island of Jeju. A total of 295 people, mostly teenage students on a field trip, have been confirmed dead, with nine remaining unaccounted for. (Yonhap)