March 27, 2006

Patricia Hessler got a call that her son Craig was safe and then found out there had been a fire aboard the cruise ship he was on in the Caribbean.

"I'm glad that I heard first that he was OK and then I saw the pictures," she said.

Craig Hessler, a senior at the Wheeler School in Providence, was on the boat with his friend and his friend's parents.

Patricia talked to Craig briefly on the phone Thursday night to get quick details. The fire started on his Craig's floor. His room was destroyed.

"The alarms were going off at about three in the morning," Patricia said. "They were the first ones out of their rooms. And they got up onto the deck where they had life vests put on and they started to lower the lifeboats. He said there were flames shooting all over the place, coming out of windows. So, it was pretty scary.

"He just said, 'Mom, I'm OK. They’re taking us off the ship. We had life vests on. They're going to try to find us a hotel. But I'm safe. I'm OK.'"

Patricia said she can’t get through to her son, and the cruise line doesn't know where he is.

"I know he's safe," she said. "But I really want to know where he is. I just want to talk to him; then I'll really know that he's safe."

Patricia was told by the cruise line that Craig would be home Saturday night