Indian sailors acquitted by South Korean Supreme Court

Mumbai, June 11 (PTI) Two Indian sailors, jailed for a
year in South Korea after a crane barge collided with their
crude carrier leading to a major oil spill in December 2007,
were acquitted by the Supreme Court on Thursday in Seoul and
are expected to return home soon.

Captain Jaspreet Chawla and Chief Officer Shyam Chetan,
who had got conditional bail in January, "will be coming to
India in two days", General Secretary of the National Union of
Seafarers of India (NUSI) Abdulgani Y Serang told PTI here.

The two sailors of the ship, Hebei Spirit, were
sentenced to jail last year by a South Korean court.

A crane barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries
collided with Spirit and led to an oil spill which endangered
marine lives and resulted in loss of livelihood for many.

Last year, a local court had acquitted Chawla and
Chetan and blamed Samsung for the accident. But the ruling was
challenged in an upper court which held them guilty on charges
of negligence resulting in marine pollution. Chawla was
awarded one-and-a-half years in jail and Chetan was sentenced
to eight months' imprisonment.

The ruling by the South Korean court sparked widespread
anger in the international shipping community, including
Indian seafarers unions, which insisted the tanker crew were
not guilty.

In January 2009, another South Korean court granted the
duo conditional bail and the matter went to the Supreme Court.
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