ROUGH CUT, NO REPORTER NARRATION
South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, in the trial of 15 crew who escaped the vessel before it sank.
The incident left 304 people, most of them school children, dead or missing.
The prosecution says Lee Joon-seok, 68, who has been charged with homicide, should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty.
Lee is among 15 accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling passengers to stay put in their cabins. Four, including the captain, face homicide charges.
The rest face lesser charges, including negligence. A three-judge panel is expected to announce its verdicts in November.
Several people have been sentenced to death in South Korea in recent years, but none has been executed since 1997.
