Indiana man falls down volcano during honeymoon, survives
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis - An Indiana man fell down a volcano in the Caribbean — and lived to tell the tale.
Clay Chastain was on his honeymoon in St. Kitts on July 18 with his wife, Acaimie, when the two decided to hike Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano on the island.
Chastain told the Indianapolis Star that he wanted to climb down into the volcano for a better view of the inside when he fell.
"One second I’m climbing, the next second the world is spinning, and I can hear [my wife] calling down to me," he said. His wife, nervous of the climb into the volcano, stayed behind.
The man, who was four days into his trip when he fell, said he believes a rope he was holding onto as he descended into the volcano snapped, but he can't remember. The next thing he could remember, Chastain said, was hearing his wife call his name — and seeing vomit with blood in it next to him. He believes he fell about 50-75 feet.
There was no cell service near the volcano, the couple said. Eventually, the two hiked to the base and called 911.
Chastain suffered a severe concussion, cracked vertebrae, a fracture in his skull and loss of hearing in his right ear. The couple couldn't fly commercial home, as air reportedly entered Chastain's brain tissue, but the pair was scheduled to take a medical flight to Florida on Wednesday.
In a Facebook message posted from his hospital bed, he added: "It's honestly amazing thanks to God's help that my injuries were not worse I'm feeling fine now though. My wife Acaimie is extremely strong and managed to help me back up out of the volcano crater and down the trail up it's side untill [sic] we got signal which was about 2 miles while I was collapsing and vomiting blood the entire way (which apparently was just coming from lacerations in my mouth and nose)."
"It was just a miracle that he wasn't injured worse than he was," Acaimie Chastain told the news outlet. "It was incredible to me that he didn't have any broken bones."
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