A man has melted in a hot spring after leaving the boardwalk during a visit to Yellowstone National Park. He had visited a very dangerous part of the park, looking for a place to swim but never knew it would be his last dip.
An official report from Yellowstone National Park which was released on the June 7 accident, in line with the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, says Colin Nathaniel Scott, a 23-year-old man from Portland, Oregon, visited the site together with her sister.
Scott and Sable [his sister] were looking for a place to soak themselves in the afternoon of that fateful day, reports KULR8.
The accident happened in Norris Geyser basin.
According to the report, Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress described the spot as a very dangerous place to swim, adding that “the pool is full of boiling acidic waters.”
In his words: “There’s a closure in place to keep people from doing that for their own safety and also to protect the resources because they are very fragile. But, most importantly for the safety of people because it’s a very unforgiving environment.
On how they found the acidic pool, Veress said both Scoth and his sister walked up a hill located few feets away from the boardwalk area.
Veress added in the official statement: “… they were specifically moving in that area for a place that they could potentially get into and soak. I think they call it Hot Potting.”
The report said Scott and Sable kept their adventurous journey recorded in a video which Yellowstone National Park has since kept as a confidential property.
Sable was recording the events with her phone as they went up the hill until they found the water.
Scott then bent over to dip his hand in the water, trying to check the temperature. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell inside.
Following the horrific insident, his sister called for help and park rangers who arrived the scene were able to find his body but couldn’t retrieve it because it was already late in the evening.
“Due to the report of the individual not previously visible, a lack of movement, suspected extreme temperatures, and indications of several thermal burns, the subject was determined to be deceased,” US park ranger Phil Strehle wrote in a 9 June report.
“A v-neck-style shirt was visible,” he said, adding that “what appeared to be a cross was visible and resting on the subject’s face.”
The officials said an approaching storm also made it impossible for them to do anything.
However, their next visit in the morning gave them the most shocking news – Scott’s dead body had melted.
This isn’t the first of such incidents at the park. The Washington Post notes that at least 22 people have died in Yellowstone’s geysers since 1870, including a 20-year-old cook who got into the wrong pool when park employees held a “hot-potting” party in 1975.
