The tragic last moments of a man were recorded right before he slipped and fell into a hot spring.
Colin Scott and his sister Sable, from Oregon, were walking through Yellowstone National Park when Colin fell into a hot spring.
The pair were looking for a place to "hot pot" to swim in, which is a term that's used to refer to soaking in the park’s natural thermal features, which Yellowstone is notorious for.
What was supposed to be a fun day out between two siblings quickly turned into one of the world's most tragic incidents.
Speaking to investigators, Colin's sister Sable said that she and her brother left the boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser on June 7 2016 when he reached down to check the water temperature but accidentally "slipped and fell" into the scalding pool.
The National Park Service released a report in which they confirmed that the 23-year-old and his sibling were walking through a prohibited area of the park, as per the Guardian, and when Scott fell into the pool, he "did not get out."
"[They] were specifically moving in that area for a place that they could potentially get into and soak," Deputy chief ranger Lorant Veress told a local news station, KULR-TV.
Veress referred to the area where the accident happened - the Norris Geyser basin – as "very dangerous" as it contains boiling acidic waters. He noted that there is a closure in place to prevent people from soaking in the pools for their own safety as well as to protect the park’s resources.
The report also stated that Sable was filming the situation on her phone before realizing that her brother was in grave danger.
"The smartphone recorded the moment he slipped and fell into the pool and her efforts to rescue him," the report said, before confirming that because there was no signal in the area, Sable was forced to leave her brother's side and seek help at the nearest venue, which was a museum.
However, by the time she came back to the hot spring with park rangers, her brother's body had dissolved as temperatures reached boiling point.
When park officials arrived, portions of Colin Scott’s head, upper torso, and hands were visible in the hot spring.
"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, and "what appeared to be a cross was visible and resting on the subject’s face."
The rangers were unable to retrieve Scott's body at the time of the incident due to the unpredictable nature of the spring, as well as an incoming "lightening storm", but when they returned the next day, he was nowhere to be seen.
"The consensus among the rescue/recovery team … was that the extreme heat of the hot spring, coupled with its acidic nature, dissolved the remains,” the report continued.
A wallet and a pair of flip-flops belonging to the 23-year-old were the only things that were recovered.
According to the Yellowstone official website, the area remains "a wild and sometimes fearsome landscape."
"In true wilderness areas like Mammoth Hot Springs, wandering off the boardwalk could spell certain danger and possible death," officials warned. "Feet can easily punch through the brittle ground, exposing groundwater that can reach 250 degrees, melting soles and scalding feet with third-degree burns."
So let that be a warning to you all.
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