Captain Jaspreet Chawla

Captain Jaspreet Chawla, the Indian Captain of a Hong Kong registered super tanker was arrested, along with the tanker's Chief Officer, today (Dec 10) by a South Korean court, which reversed an earlier ruling by a lower court that found the Captain innocent in the matter. The 147,000-ton Hebei Spirit was anchored at the time.

The appeal court, overturning a lower court ruling, found the Hebei Spirit's top officers failed to take prompt action to reduce the spillage on December 7 last year which fouled miles of beaches.

From The Press Trust of India:

Seoul, Dec 10 (PTI) An Indian captain and a chief officer of a Hong Kong super tanker were today jailed by a South Korean court, which ruled they were partly to blame for the country's worst ever oil spill. Captain Jaspreet Chawla was sentenced to one year in prison and fined USD 14,000, while chief officer Shyam Chetan was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined USD 7000, Yonhap news agency reported.

The South Korean appeal court overturned a lower court ruling and found the super tanker 'Hebei Spirit' and its officers partly to blame for the oil spill in December last year, which polluted miles and miles of beaches.

The ship's owner was fined USD 21,000.

The ruling could raise hackles among international shipping operators and seafarer unions, who had insisted that tanker crew were not to be blamed.

The accident happened when a barge carrying a construction crane broke free ramming the anchored super tanker, boring three holes into it which spilled 10,900 tons of crude oil.

The appeal court in the central city of Daejeon ordered one tugboat captain to be jailed for two years and six months. The other was jailed for eight months, Yonhap said. PTI