Yellowstone National Park officials have identified the person whose foot was found floating in a hot spring in August.
Parksaid said Il Hun Ro, 70, of Los Angeles, was identified “in the last three weeks” through DNA analysis, and his family was notified.
“The investigation determined, to the best of our knowledge, that an unwitnessed incident involving one individual happened on the morning of July 31, 2022, at Abyss Pool, and no foul play occurred,” according to park officials. “Based on a lack of evidence, the circumstances surrounding the death of Ro remain unknown.”
The partial foot was found floating in the thermal pool in the southern part of the park’s West Thumb Geyser Basin by an employee.
According to the National Park Service, the Abyss Pool is 53 feet deep. The temperature is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
On its website, the service warns visitors that the water can “severely burn”.
Yellowstone’s website lists data showing that this is not the first fatality in a thermal pool. As recently as August 2000, a person died after falling into a hot spring; in June 2016, a man fell into another hot spring after straying from a designated path.