Prosecutors have charged 15 crew members over last month's deadly South Korean ferry sinking, four of them with manslaughter.

The indictment was filed today in Gwangju District Court. The trial date will be decided in a few days.

Prosecutors say they brought manslaughter charges against the ship's captain and three other crew members because they failed to carry out their duties to protect passengers when the ship was sinking on April 16.

The disaster killed 281 people, with 23 others missing.

Eleven other crew members were indicted for alleged negligence and abandoning passengers in need.

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

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.