The boss of the South Korean ferry operator whose ship sank in April killing more than 300, mostly teenage students, was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday.

Gwangju District Court judges also imposed upon Chonghaejin Marine president Kim Han Sik a 2 million won (£1,140) fine for failing to stop the improper storage and overloading of cargo on the ship, which was ruled to have contributed to the sinking.

Four other Chonghaejin officials were sentenced to three to six years in prison on similar charges and two other company employees got suspended prison sentences.

An official from the Korea Shipping Association, which oversees safety issues for ships, was sentenced to three years in prison for allowing the ferry to leave a port near Seoul without checking its cargo and storage.

Two employees of the private company that loaded the ship both received a two-year prison term but company bosses and officials got off relatively lightly.

The Gwangju court sentenced the 15 navigational crew members to between five and 36 years in prison last week.

More than seven months after the ferry Sewol sank on its way to a southern resort island, the country is still grappling with the aftermath of the disaster, which exposed serious shortcomings in public safety and sparked fierce political wrangling.

Officials blamed crew members' negligence, overloaded cargo, improper storage, unprofessional rescue works and corruption by the ship's owners for the incident.