A South Korean court has awarded compensation to some of the survivors of the Sewol ferry sinking in 2014.

The capsizing of the vessel killed more than 300 people off the country's southern coast.

Suwon district court ordered the government and the ship's operator Cheonghaejin Marine to pay each of 20 survivors KRW 80m ($71,000).

"The survivors experienced considerable difficulty escaping the ship after getting little or no guidance from anyone and suffered so much fear and anxiety while trapped inside," the court said in a statement, according to AFP.