Indiana man falls into dormant volcano on honeymoon – WLS

INDIANAPOLIS — An extended honeymoon would be nice, but one Indianapolis couple can’t wait to be home as the groom recovers from falling in a dormant volcano.

Clay and Acaimie Chastain thought a honeymoon hike up Mount Liamuiga in the Caribbean’s St. Kitts would be a bonding experience.

“We thought that there might be some tour guides there, but there weren’t any, so we just decided to hike it on our own,” Acaimie said.

Little did they know what the day would hold.

“Clay’s pretty athletic and I enjoy hiking, so we made it up to the top,” Acaimie said.

After the 2 1/2 mile climb up, Clay decided to climb down into the dormant volcano’s crater lake.

“It’s almost like straight down that you’re climbing so it’s pretty, like, scary and I have a fear of heights,” Acaimie said.

She waited at the top but heard a loud noise just moments later, reported WISH.

“I heard like a really loud snap and then what sounded like a huge boulder like roll down the hill,” she said.

That sound she heard was Clay.

Acaimie started the climb down and found his phone and an orange bandana he was wearing that day.

“I saw the back of his head and that he had hit his head definitely, it was bleeding, and I got around to the front of him and he had blood pouring out of his nose and onto his shirt,” Acaimie said.

At that point, Acaimie said she knew she had to get Clay out of the crater lake and then down the mountain.

“He was leaning on me a lot and he was just gasping more and more,” Acaimie said. “And he just kept asking me how much farther? And I knew God’s going to take care of us and God’s going to protect us and we’re going to get out of here, but you have to help me and you have to stay awake, because I can’t carry you out of here all by myself.”

The climb took nearly three hours before Acaimie could get Clay to the paramedics.

“She’s absolutely incredible,” Clay said. “Her being able to carry me all the way down a volcano when I can barely stand up is amazing and it’s definitely nothing short of a miracle.”

Now Clay’s brain injury is stopping him from boarding a commercial flight home because doctors said the altitude would be unsafe.

So in order to get him on an air ambulance, hundreds of people have donated more than $30,000.

“All the support from back home has been so completely overwhelming,” Acaimie said.

“It’s way more than I ever would have imagined. I mean some people are people that we know and some people are just people that neither of us have even heard the name before,” Clay said. “And the fact that they are actually stepping out of their way helping us is incredible and just goes to show that God’s grace can extend to everyone and anyone at any point in time.”

The Chastains have reached their Go-Fund-Me goal for donations, but no word yet on when they may make it back to the states.