This is absolutely HORRIFYING! An Oregon man who was celebrating his college graduation with his sister at Yellowstone National Park died on June 7 after dissolving in a basin of boiling acid.
Colin Scott, 23, and his sister, Sable, were trying to find a place to “hot pot” a.k.a. bathe in the steaming waters at Yellowstone National Park on June 7 — something that is strictly forbidden in the park. But, the Portland, Oregon man ended up dissolving and dying that day when he fell into the boiling and acidic Norris Geyser Basin in the park officials revealed on Nov. 16. How horrifying!
Sable said that Colin “was reaching down to check the temperature of a hot spring when he slipped and fell into the pool,”. Sable, who was recording the incident with her cell phone, claims that she tried to rescue her brother, but her attempts were unsuccessful.
Colin’s sister told Yellowstone authorities about what happened and they sent a search and rescue team. The group was horrifyingly unable to get Colin out of the basin, and when they returned the next day, they found that his body had been disintegrated. “In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving,” Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress said. We cannot believe this terrifying story!
Lorant explained that Yellowstone makes a point of enclosing the basins to protect the environment, but obviously, also for the safety of park-goers. “But most importantly, for the safety of people, because it’s a very unforgiving environment,” Lorant said.
Shockingly though, Colin has not been the first person to try and enter these basins. Children have burned themselves and 20 people have died in the boiling waters in Yellowstone. “The victims include seven young children who slipped away from parents, teenagers who fell through thin surface crust, fishermen who inadvertently stepped into hot springs near Yellowstone Lake, and park concession employees who illegally took ‘hot pot’ swims in thermal pools,” the Yellowstone National Park site says. So, so sad.
