BILLINGS, Mont., June 9 (UPI) -- Yellowstone National Park rangers suspended the search for the body of a 23-year-old Oregon man who fell into the hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin.
The search for Colin Nathaniel Scott was suspended Wednesday after rangers determined there were no remains left after he fell into the high-temperature, acidic spring. Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman, said the search was suspended almost 24 hours after he fell into the spring.
She said rangers navigated over the geyser basin in an effort to recover his body, but stopped "due to the extreme nature and futility of it all."
"It appears that there's not much to recover," Reid said. "This isn't easy for anybody who has to deal with this."
Scott's sister said he left the boardwalk over the springs, lost his footing and fell into scalding water. Scott recently graduated Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., near Portland. He planned to begin a doctoral program in psychology.
The Norris Geyser Basin is considered the hottest, oldest and most volatile of Yellowstone's thermal areas. Temperatures in the waters reach close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
