fbpx

North Carolina Man Fell Into Yellowstone Hot Spring, Burned

Xanterra employee fell into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin on Tuesday

By Justin Franz

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. — A 21-year-old North Carolina man suffered severe burns after falling into a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Park officials say Gervais Dylan Gatete of Raleigh, an employee of park concessionaire Xanterra Parks and Resorts, fell into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin just north of Old Faithful late Tuesday.

Gatete was with seven other people when he fell. The group flagged down a ranger, Gatete was taken by ambulance to the airport in West Yellowstone, Montana, and he was flown a Salt Lake City burn hospital.

Park spokeswoman Morgan Warthin says the incident is still under investigation. She did not know Gatete’s medical condition.

This is the first serious injury in a thermal area in Yellowstone this year. Last June, a man left the boardwalk and died after falling into a hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin.