ONLY ON 3: Student from England stuck in ILM because of volcano

WILMINGTON (WWAY-TV) – While that volcanco that erupted in Iceland last week isn’t affecting flights in and out of ILM – it is affecting one person here – in a big way.

Patrick Wright is getting an extension on his spring break from his high school in Reading, England. But not by choice…”I suppose it’s a bit annoying,” Wright said, “But having said that I enjoy the United States so it’s got positives and negatives I suppose.”

Wright’s in Wilmington visiting his mom, who’s exhausted every option to get him home. “There’s no ferries, there’s no trains, Europe is in a huge mess, said Judy Swilley. “I’m looking at even ship options, from like New York to London, but it’s a long time. It takes several, several days to do that.”

But Wright doesn’t have several days…he’s got to get back to his studies. “The exam grades he gets this summer basically will determine which school, which university he goes to,” said his mom, “And he’s looking to go to a pretty top level school in the UK so clearly the next few weeks are really quite critical. So every day does start to matter at this point.”

“There’s one exam in particular,” said Wright, “That’s going to be quite difficult which I need to get a bit of help with, and if i don’t get back soon it may be quite difficult to pass that exam.”

Wright’s flight has been re-scheduled for Thursday…and he and his mom are keeping their fingers crossed.

“I just hope that this volcano doesn’t spark off another one because there’s another one,” said Swilley. “Because there’s another one eight miles up the road from the one that’s going off which is apparently a monster in compared with this one. So i hope they all just go back to sleep.”