Man Whose Leg Was Shattered By Hawaii's Volcano Eruption Speaks Out

The man whose leg was shattered by a flaming “lava bomb” - the first-known injury from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano - has finally spoken out. Darryl Clinton was helping evacuate a home when a chunk of lava hit him in the leg.

"It basically snapped my leg in half, but right above the ankle,” Clinton told CNN. "So my foot and my ankle were hanging by basically the back of my flesh, maybe my Achilles was still there. But all the other stuff was severed, so I had to hold my shoe."

Doctors were able to remove the debris from the wound and save his leg.

"I thought at the very minimum I would have to lose a foot," Clinton said. "I thought I was going to die, but I didn't even think I'd have a foot."

Since Hawaii's Kilauea erupted Thursday, May 3, 22 fissure vents have opened on the volcano's East Rift Zone in the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions, destroying at least 36 buildings and forcing more than 2,000 local residents to evacuate the dangerous lava flows and toxic sulfur dioxide fumes that have consumed the neighborhoods.