(Bloomberg) -- The captain of the South Korean ferry that sankin April was sentenced to 36 years in prison for not doing enoughto save passengers in the country’s worst maritime disaster in morethan four decades.

Judge Lim Joung Youb said Captain Lee Joon Seok, 69, could havesaved many more lives had he tried to evacuate the passengersbefore abandoning ship. Lee was acquitted of homicide charges thatcould have brought a death sentence. Most of the victims were highschool students on a class trip, and only 172 of the 476 people onboard survived the April 16 sinking.

“Lee should have immediately ordered an evacuation,” Judge Limsaid. “His neglecting to take measures to save the passengersresulted in numerous deaths as a devastating consequence and ledmany families to live in misery for the rest of their lives.”

Some family members sobbed in the courtroom after the verdictwas read.

“Is this justice!” Kim Hyun Dong, who lost his daughter in thesinking, shouted after the judge left, yelling curses as guardsstood at each side of the courtroom. “What kind of prank is this?Bring back our kids alive!”

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, saying Leedeliberately avoided issuing an evacuation order because he wasworried the passengers would hamper his escape. The court did findthe chief engineer, Park Gi Ho, guilty of homicide and sentencedhim to 30 years in prison on the grounds that he didn’t help twodying crew members.

Lives Neglected

“Of course the captain deserves the death penalty” said Lee JongChul, 47, whose son died on the Sewol. “Whatever the crew membersget won’t be enough for the lives they neglected.”

Lee has spent more than 120 days living in a tent city incentral Seoul set up to pressure the government for a thoroughinvestigation of the accident.

“What’s more important for us families is not just aboutpunishing those that were involved in the accident,” he said. “Wedemand the government do an extended investigation that will revealthe truth about what really happened.”

The trial at Gwangju District Court, about 260 kilometers (160miles) south of Seoul, has riveted a nation still reeling from thetragedy that fueled public anger at President Park Geun Hye overher handling of the disaster. Her approval rating tumbled to itslowest in more than a year in the wake of the sinking. Days afterthe disaster she called the actions of the crew “like murder” andin May bowed in apology during a public address to the nation.

Plea for Mercy

In addition to the captain and chief engineer, 13 other crewmembers were sentenced to between five and 20 years today.

The captain’s court-appointed lawyer, Lee Kwang Jae, asked thejudge for “mercy” on Oct. 27. The attorney said he didn’t know whatpunishment would alleviate people’s anger.

The ferry was heading to the resort island of Jeju when itlisted and sank off the country’s southwestern coast. While many inthe crew abandoned ship, the passengers were told to stay in theircabins after the Sewol first started sinking. Parents of the highschool students were initially told that all the children hadsurvived, only to learn within hours that 250 students weremissing.

Overloading and a redesign that left the vessel unstable havebeen blamed for contributing to the incident, which occurred in anarea of ocean notorious for its strong currents.

(An earlier version of this story was corrected to show thecaptain was guilty of criminal negligence rather than professionalnegligence.)

--With assistance from Heesu Lee in Seoul.

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