Man believed to have died in Yellowstone hot spring

A man in his early 20s is believed to have died after walking off a boardwalk and falling into a hot spring near Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, according to a media release from the park.

A witness reported seeing the man fall into the hot spring, and rangers are treating the incident as a probable fatality because the victim has not been located. The rangers are using extreme caution as they respond given the hazards of the thermal area.

Yellowstone rangers lead dangerous search for missing man

The Norris Geyser Basin is currently closed and the investigation is ongoing and no further information will be available this evening.

The park service said in the release that it will provide information as it is available Wednesday.

Men defend loading Yellowstone bison calf into vehicle

Earlier this week, a 13-year-old boy was burned by a hot pool in Yellowstone National Park.

The Billings Gazette reports that park spokeswoman Charissa Reid says the boy suffered burns around his ankle and foot after his father, who had been carrying him, slipped in the park’s Upper Geyser Basin on Saturday.

The boy is recovering.

Reid says the father was also burned by the water while pulling his son out of the hot springs but refused treatment.

Some hot springs in Yellowstone National Park can reach temperatures close to 200 degrees.

Off-track Yellowstone visitors not being pursued

It has been an eventful opening to the start of the tourist season.

• A group of men who post pictures and videos of their travels on social media walked onto a sensitive hot spring, snapping selfies and dipping a hand into water that can reach the boiling point.

• Another Yellowstone visitor violated park rules by loading a bison calf into his vehicle out of concern it needed help, and the bison was euthanized.

•  Another tourist approached within an arm’s length of an adult bison in the Old Faithful area, which was captured on a video that went viral. The bison, which was lying down, reared up but did not charge.

• Another video featured visitors posing for pictures with bison at an unsafe and illegal distance.

• And another video that went viral this spring showed a cow elk charging a woman who was approaching it.

The park service says visitors should stay at least 100 yards from bears and wolves and at least 25 yards from all other wildlife.