Visitors Escape When Car Goes Into Yellowstone Geyser

Yellowstone National Park rangers have been able to fish a car out of one of the park's thermal features, where it was completely submerged after running off the road Thursday.

The incident happened on Thursday morning and fortunately, everyone inside the car was able to get out safely.

Fortunately, even though this geyser's water is acidic, it's only about the temperature of a very warm hot tub.

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Off the road

Yellowstone authorities say the accident happened about 10:40 Thursday morning when the car, with five people inside, "inadvertently" drove off the roadway and into the Semi-Centennial Geyser. That's a thermal feature near Roaring Mountain, on the road between Norris Junction and Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern part of the park.

Rangers say everyone in the car made it out safely. They were taken by ambulance to the hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. That's fortunate since the car sank in 9-feet of water.

Vehicle recovered today

Friday, rangers closed the road, and recovery crews were able to safely lift the car out of the Geyser. The operation took a couple of hours.

The park is thanking Hanser's Automotive, the U.S. Water Rescue Dive Team, HK Contractors, Resource Technologies Incorporated, and the Yellowstone Park Service Stations for teaming up to complete the recovery.

READ MORE: A Tragic Weekend in Montana & Wyoming National Parks 

Could have been worse

Luckily, the Semi-Centennial isn't one of the really dangerous geysers in the park. However, it's still nothing to trifle with. The water averages 105 degrees, but Yellowstone officials say it's very acidic.

Rangers will continue to investigate the accident.