South Korea indicts 15 in ferry disaster

South Korea's prosecutors on Thursday indicted 15 crew members over last month's ferry sinking, four of them on homicide charges, in a disaster has left more than 300 people dead or missing.

Most of the victims are students from a single high school near Seoul, who were traveling to the southern tourist island of Jeju for a school trip.

Prosecutors said they brought homicide charges against the ship's captain and three other crew members because they failed to carry out their duties to protect passengers in need, which led to the passengers' deaths. If convicted, they could face up to the death penalty, according to the Supreme Court.

Eleven others were indicted for alleged negligence and abandoning passengers in need when the ship sank on April 16, according to prosecutors. The indictment was filed Thursday in Gwangju District Court, and the trial date will be decided in a few days, according to a court official who requested anonymity because of department rules.

The 15 crew members, all involved in the ship's navigation, were the first group of people rescued when the Sewol was badly listing that day.

Capt. Lee Joon-seok initially told passengers to stay in their cabins and took about a half-hour to issue an evacuation order, but it's not known if his message was conveyed to passengers. In a video taken by the coast guard, he was seen escaping the ferry in his underwear to a rescue boat while many passengers were still in the sinking ship.

Lee told reporters after his arrest that he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for the passengers' safety in the cold water.

About one month after the sinking, 281 bodies have been retrieved, but 23 others were still listed as missing. Underwater searches for the bodies have been hampered by strong currents and bad weather. Family members of the missing passengers are still camping out at a nearby port waiting for the news of their loved ones.

The sinking, one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea's modern history, has triggered mounting public criticism of the government for its handling of the event.

The Associated Press