Car crashes into geyser in Yellowstone Park, five passengers survive

Crews hoist a car that ran off the road into Semi-Centennial Geyser in Yellowstone National Park on July 12. The car went off the roadway and crashed into the geyser. All five occupants of the car managed to get out safely. (Photo provided by Yellowstone National Park.)

Officials in Yellowstone National Park report that five people who had to escape from a car that crashed into a geyser all survived on Thursday, despite literally jumping into hot water.

On Thursday at around 10:40 a.m., an sport-utility vehicle traveling between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction in the park drove off the road and into the Semi-Centennial Geyser, which is located near Roaring Mountain.

Park officials said the five people in the car managed to escape from the submerged vehicle safely, although all five were transported via ambulance to a nearby hospital with what authorities classified as “non-life-threatening injuries.”

Park officials had to wait till Friday to fish the car out of the geyser. The car had been nearly fully submerged beneath an estimated nine feet of water. Park crews closed the roadway, including both lanes of traffic near the geyser, temporarily while crews lifted the car out of Semi-Centennial geyser.

The geyser has acidic water and the temperature ranges around 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Park officials also said it took about two hours to get the car out of the geyser. The U.S. Water Rescue Dive Team helped with the process, according to the press release.

The incident remains under investigation.

Semi-Centennial geyser gets its name because the area around Clearwater Springs was active around 1918. The geyser or “thermal feature” was discovered in 1922, on Yellowstone National Park’s 50th anniversary, according to T.Scott Ryan’s “The Geysers of Yellowstone Park.” In 1922, when it was discovered, eruptions of it sent water as high as 75 feet. But since then, there hasn’t been eruptions, but the guide describes “intermittent bubbling.” The geothermal activity is likely dampened because nearby Obsidian Creek runs into it, creating the deep pool in the crater.

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