Costa Concordia crew accrue surprise accolade

After being accused of lacking training in evacuation procedures and failing to understand basic Italian, the crew of the doomed Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia have received a surprise accolade. Lloyd's List, the shipping industry newspaper, awarded the crew its "Seafarer of the Year" award on Wednesday, eight months after 32 people died when the ship smashed into rocks off the Italian island of Giglio and ran aground. The vessel's captain, Francesco Schettino, faces a pre-trial hearing next month accused of manslaughter after he steered the Costa Concordia into the island at high speed during a botched, night-time "sail-past" on 13 January. Schettino abandoned the ship before many passengers, later claiming he tripped into a lifeboat by mistake. An expert's report released this month claimed an Indonesian helmsman on the bridge failed to understand orders given by Schettino, who often slipped into Neapolitan dialect. After the collision, some crew members were reportedly unaware of the ship's emergency drill, the report stated, while crew from different countries were allegedly unable to communicate with each other. Some were unable to understand emergency instructions, which were in Italian. But Lloyd's List's judges stated: "What was largely missed in the media storm that ensued were the genuine examples of bravery and professionalism displayed by members of the crew." With 4,229 people on board "it should not be forgotten that without the skilled response of the majority of the crew, the loss of life could have been far higher".