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gustinus Brata Kusuma, captain of the Ocean Express boat, has been sentenced to three years'€™ imprisonment for his negligence, which resulted in the deaths of two Japanese divers.

The panel of judges found that Agustinus was guilty of violating articles 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code related to negligence.

'€œThe defendant has been proven guilty of committing a crime and because of his negligence other people died and were injured,'€ presiding judge Nursyam said in the trial on Tuesday. The sentence was lighter than the three and a half years'€™ imprisonment sought by the prosecutors.

Agustinus was captain of the boat carrying seven Japanese divers who went missing while diving in the waters of Nusa Lembongan, one of three small islets off Bali'€™s southeast coast known collectively as Nusa Penida, in February. Five divers were eventually found alive, while two others died.

The five divers who were rescued were Saori Furukawa, 37, Emi Yamamoto, 33, Namomi Tomita, 28, Aya Morizono, 27, and Atsumi Yoshidome, 29. They were found three days after the incident, around 300 meters from the point where they had gone missing.

Meanwhile the two divers who died were Ritsuko Miyata, 59, and Shoko Takashi, 35. Miyata'€™s body was found floating in Serangan waters four days after the incident, while Takashi'€™s body was found in March floating in the sea near Sempu Island off Malang in East Java, some 400 kilometers from where she had gone missing.

During the trial, it was revealed that Agustinus had caused loss of life by leaving the divers alone in the open seas during the trip. One of the divers who survived the tragedy, Furukawa, told the court that when she resurfaced around 45 minutes after initially diving she could not see the boat in the vicinity.

She reported that all the divers were then caught up in an ocean current due to the sudden bad weather that occurred.

Meanwhile, Agustinus in his defense statement denied that he had left the divers.

'€œAt that time, I was already at the point that had been agreed. I tried to search for them through the afternoon until my boat ran out of fuel. I decided to buy more fuel and searched for them again. I stayed overnight at the site until morning,'€ he said.

'€œThere was no intention to leave the victims,'€ Agustinus, who had no lawyer at the trial, said.

However, the judge found Agustinus guilty as he was late reporting the case to the police and Search and Rescue Agency.

'€œAt least he should have asked for help from people onshore. He didn'€™t ask for help until he was frustrated the victims could not be found,'€ the judge said in his considerations.

The judge also said that bad weather could not deter from the defendant'€™s fault as he was experienced in taking divers out to that area.

'€œThe defendant'€™s negligence resulted in many victims, and ruined the image of Bali'€™s tourism,'€ Nursyam said.

The judge also considered that Agustinus had always been polite during the trial and has a wife and children.

Agustinus accepted the verdict.

After the trial, Agustinus conveyed his apologies to the victims'€™ families. '€œI apologize. I did not intentionally do this. It was just because of the bad weather,'€ he told journalists.