Captain Lee Joon-seok, who got 36 years for gross negligence, was not among the eight, Reuters reported.

Sewol’s chief engineer, Park Gi-ho, received 30 years for homicide for not assisting two injured crew.

The South Korean vessel went down with the loss of more than 300 lives, many of them schoolchildren.

An investigation found the accident was caused by a combination of cargo overloading, illegal redesign of the ship and poor helmsmanship during a turn.

Defence