An Indian captain and a chief officer of a Hong Kong super tanker were on Wednesday 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 $14,000, while chief officer Shyam Chetan was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined $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 $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.