An Oregon man who died in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring and dissolved when he fell into the boiling, acidic water, was looking to soak in the water, park officials said in a report.
The report, which followed a Freedom of Information Act request from KULR, found that Colin Scott, 23, was looking for a place to “hot pot,” or soak in the streaming waters—a practice forbidden by the park—with his sister in June. He “was reaching down to check the temperature of a hot spring when he slipped and fell into the pool,” the report said, quoting his sister Sable Scott.
Search and rescue rangers who looked for Scott found his body in the pool, along with his wallet and flip flops, but their recovery efforts were thwarted by a lightning storm. The next day, they could not find any remains because of the acidic water quality.
“In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving,” Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR.
[KULR]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Cybersecurity Experts Are Sounding the Alarm on DOGE
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Michelle Zauner Stares Down the Darkness
Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com