Car runs off the road and into thermal geyser at Yellowstone National Park

Five people are safe after the sports utility vehicle they were riding in went off the road and into an inactive hot, acidic geyser in Yellowstone National Park, officials said Friday.

The passengers, whose names were not released by officials, were driving Thursday morning near a semi-centennial geyser thermal pool when it went off the road.

The five people were able to get out of the 105-degree Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) acidic water on their own after the crash, park spokesperson Morgan Warthin said in a statement.

The passengers were taken to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The road was closed for about two hours Friday while the SUV was extracted from 9 feet of water, Warthin said.

The Semi-Centennial Geyser has been inactive since a major eruption in 1922. It is located near Roaring Mountain between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction.

Visitors can visit five types of hydrothermal features at the park and there are more than 10,000 such features at Yellowstone.

Park officials said the incident is still being investigated.

In:
• Yellowstone National Park