Survivor describes jumping out of window

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Greenville student who survived a North Carolina beach house inferno by jumping from a third-story window says today he’s not sure what woke him up.

University of South Carolina student Tripp Wylie says he had to make the decision to jump quickly because smoke was filling the room.

Six USC students and a Clemson University student died in the fire Sunday morning at Ocean Isle Beach. Wylie and five other USC students escaped the flames.

Wylie says he heard crackling and popping after he awoke and opened the bedroom door, letting smoke in. He went to the window and saw flames coming from the front of the house. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” he realized his only option was to jump.

He says it was a lucky jump to clear a concrete bank to reach the canal.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)