A young Indiana couple on their honeymoon on St. Kitts in the Caribbean were hiking on the island's dormant volcano when the husband fell in.
Clay Chastain, of Indianapolis, is recovering from a fractured skull since the fall last week.
Mount Liamuiga, the tallest peak on St. Kitts, has a lush crater full of plant life due to its inactivity.
According to his social media, Chastain tried to climb into it on July 18 using ropes that led from the trail into the crater.
“I trusted the ropes with my weight too much and one of them snapped,” Chastain wrote on July 19, adding that his wife, Acaimie, who witnessed the accident, estimates he tumbled more than 50 feet down the crater’s wall.
Acaimie Chastain told the Indianapolis Star that after her husband fell, she climbed into the crater to rescue him.
"I was freaking out about what I was going to find at the bottom," she said, adding that no one else was around at the time.
She helped get Clay get out of the crater and supported him as they hiked down the trail until they had cellphone service to call for help, the couple said. Chastain said he was “collapsing and vomiting” the entire walk back.
"It was a miracle that he was able to support himself for as long as he did with the injuries he had," Acaimie Chastain told the Indianapolis Star, which reported that Clay suffered a fracture at the base of his skull, cracked vertebrae, loss of hearing in his right ear, and a severe concussion.
“It's honestly amazing thanks to God's help that my injuries were not worse,” he said on Facebook.
Because of the skull fracture, Chastain said on Facebook he was unable to fly commercially to return home. Instead, he needed a low-flying emergency aircraft that would allow him to avoid high air pressure. The couple raised $35,000 for the trip through an online fundraising effort.
According to the fundraiser page, the couple, who NBC News reached out to for comment, was scheduled to fly from St. Kitts to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Wednesday evening.
