Cruise Fire Left All Blackened, Melted

Jerry Levy says he thought he might have been dreaming when a loud fire alarm startled him out of bed very early on Thursday.

He quickly realized it as all too real.

Levy's room was at the center of the huge section of the ocean liner "Star Princess" that was scorched by a massive blaze as the ship was sailing in the Caribbean, from Grand Cayman to Jamaica.

Some 3,800 passengers and crew members were on board. One person died, and 11 were injured. At least 100 rooms were affected.

Investigators say a cigarette may have sparked the fast-moving flames.

On The Early Show Friday, Levy, of Orlando, Fla., told co-anchor Hannah Storm he "was sleeping in my cabin, which was in the middle of the boat, and at about 2:30, 3:00 A.M. An alarm went off. It was quite a loud alarm. It woke us up. And when you're that asleep, you're not sure if it's for real, or a drill, or you're dreaming. We quickly got up and went and looked out the window and realized it was for real.

"It looked like a combination of what you see on TV in a forest fire and a volcano. There was a lot of light ash and a lot of red flames, as well as what I would describe small-looking, almost like meteors, but globs of red molten stuff falling down on the deck. …apparently, from the deck above melting.

"And then, when I opened the door to my cabin to look out in the hallway, it was full of smoke, and on one side, people were on their hands and knees crawling."So I quickly, very quickly, as a matter of fact, I didn't even go back to my safe, where I had some money and my passport and personal items. I just … grabbed my life jacket and ran out the door."

He later left the ship with literally just the clothes he was wearing. Nothing else.

Levy says, "I certainly will admit that I was scared. And I was also scared because my son was there, my brother and his wife, and the first thing was to try to find them, which was very difficult, initially.

"But, I will say, there was no panic on the boat. Everyone seemed extremely calm. I'd say the crew did a terrific job.

"I was very surprised, as soon as we got there, they were at the stairways with their hats and guide uniforms on and leading people to the muster (safety) stations. They kept people very calm in the muster stations and they kept people fairly well-announced through the process."

When he returned to his room later, says Levy, "I was just shocked. When you open the door, I had what they called a penthouse suite, it was a reasonable sized suite in the middle of the boat. When you open the door, instead of this big suite and big balcony going out to the ocean, you basically open the door and you can step out to the ocean.

"The balcony was melted away. The room was all torched. Most stuff was either melted or gone. It was all solid black. It was in four inches of black, murky water. But it was all gone.

"It's hard to explain how things that appeared to be solid steel columns and railings and everything else were melted away. The fire was obviously very hot."