Relatives of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster said on Tuesday they will fight for justice after a South Korean court handed a 36-year sentence to the captain of the sunken ferry.

Gwangju District Court acquitted Captain Lee Joon-seok of a homicide charge because it was difficult to believe that he knew his actions would cause such a huge number of deaths, according to a court statement.

It said that Lee had issued an evacuation order.

The court did convict him however of being professionally negligent and abandoning his passengers during the disaster in April that killed more than 300 people.

Family members criticised the verdict for being too lenient, telling the media outside the court they would tighten their resolve until "we reveal the truth at the Court of Appeal through a Special Investigative Committee."

Whilst Ko Young-hee, the mother of student victim Choi Jin-hyuk said a Sewol Ferry Investigation Committee would now be formed that will collect evidence to send to the Court of Appeal.

"We will do anything to make the crew members....pay for their crimes accordingly" she added.

Prosecutors and the crew members have one week to appeal, according to the court.

The chief engineer got 30 years, and 13 other crew members were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing the court.

Lee has apologised for abandoning the passengers, but said he didn't know his action would lead to so many deaths.

The widely vilified Lee could have received a death sentence for the homicide charges.

A total of 476 people were aboard the ship and only 172 of them were rescued.

AP TELEVISION

Gwangju - 11 November 2014

1. News conference by family members of Danwon High School student victims from the Sewol Ferry disaster

2. Close of family members

3. Close of a mother of one student victim

4. Father of one student victim talking during the conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Park Jong-dae, father of Danwon High School student victim Park Soo-hyun:

"I kind of expected this situation (no death-penalty or life-sentence given) could occur. However, it is not even the life-sentence, but 36 years in jail. I cannot stop help myself being terrified by the fact that the rest of the crew members, as this (student victim's) mother has already said, received sentences as low as five-years in jail. I want to say 'sorry' to the children, and I want to promise them that we will tighten our resolve until we reveal the truth at the Court of Appeal through a Special Investigative Committee."

6. Journalists at news conference

7. Wide of news conference

8. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Ko Young-hee, Mother of Danwon High School student victim Choi Jin-hyuk:

"All my daily life and future has been crushed forever since the 16th of April. All mothers' lives have disappeared in such a way. Just five-years in jail to pay for what they did? Now, the Sewol Ferry Investigation Committee will be formed. We will collect every bit of evidence we have and send it to the Court of Appeal. We will do anything to make the crew members, who abandoned our children, escaped, ran away, and thought of only their lives, pay for their crimes accordingly."

9. Close of two female family members

10. Ko talking at news conference

11. Journalists at news conference

12. End of news conference