North Carolina man fell into Yellowstone hot spring, burned

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. – A 21-year-old North Carolina man has 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 spring in the Lower Geyser Basin on Tuesday.

Gatete was with seven other people when he fell. He was taken by ambulance to West Yellowstone, Montana, and was flown to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Hospital spokeswoman Suzanne Winchester said he was in critical but stable condition.

Park spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said the incident is still under investigation.

It’s the first serious injury in a thermal area in Yellowstone this year. Last June, a man died after falling into a hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin.