By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

A high court held officers of a Hong Kong-registered oil tanker partially guilty for the nation's worst oil spill in seas off Taean, South Chungcheong Province, in December last year, giving jail terms to the crewmembers, Wednesday. It overturned a lower court's ruling in June that cleared the owner of the Hebei Spirit and the crewmen of any responsibility.

Hebei Spirit lawyers said they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Daejeon High Court handed down an 18-month prison term and 20 million won fine to the captain of the Hebei Spirit, Jasprit Chawla, and an eight-month jail term and 10 million won fine to the chief officer, Syam Chetan. They were jailed at the court. It also fined Hebei Spirit Shipping 30 million won.

The oil spill occurred on Dec. 7 last year when a barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries, carrying a crane, was separated from its two tugboats and collided with Hebei Spirit which was anchored in seas off Taean. More than 12,000 tons of crude oil leaked into the West Sea.

The court gave an 18 month jail term to the captain of the barge; 30 months and a two million won fine to the captain of one of the tugboats; and eight months to the captain of the other. It rejected Samsung's appeal and fined the company 30 million won.

The court acknowledged that the primary responsibility for the collision lay with Samsung, but that the tanker's crew were also partially responsible as they did not take immediate and proper measures to minimize the oil leak.

``We rule that the chief officer of Hebei Spirit did not conduct his surveillance duty properly in the initial stages of the accident. If he had, the captain could have taken effective measures to avoid the collision,'' the court said. ``Following the collision, the tanker's crew injected gas into the oil tank to prevent an explosion, but the measure resulted in more oil leakage. They started moving the oil to another tank three and a half hours after the accident,'' it said.

The court said the oil spill inflicted huge mental and financial damage on the residents there and led to an environmental disaster, saying, ``The accused, seafarers of both Hebei Spirit and Samsung, should take responsibility for the damages. They did not regret their wrongdoing and even gave false testimony.''

The ruling is likely to bring backlash from international seafarers' groups and shipping operators, which have claimed the Hebei Spirit crew were not responsible. ``The captain could not foresee that the tow wire was going to break,'' Roberto Giorgi, president of V.Ships, the technical manager of Hebei Spirit, told Lloyds List, a London-based maritime newspaper in September.

In the June ruling, the lower court sentenced the tugboat captains to one- and three-year jail terms with fines, and ordered Samsung to pay 30 million won in fines.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr