YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – A foot found floating in a Yellowstone National Park hot pool last summer belonged to a 70-year-old man from Los Angeles, park officials said Thursday.
It still isn't clear how the man, Il Hun Ro, ended up in the spring, but investigators don't suspect foul play, park officials said in a statement.
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Park staff found Ro's partial foot inside of a shoe in Abyss Pool in the park's West Thumb Geyser Basin in August.
Investigators concluded that whatever happened to Ro occurred on the morning of July 31, but that nobody saw it. They identified Ro through a DNA analysis and notified his family, officials said.
Abyss Pool is 53 feet (16 meters) deep and about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). In such springs, hot water cools as it reaches the surface and then sinks as it is replaced by hotter water from below. The circulation prevents the water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption like those that happen in the park's geysers.
Yellowstone spokesperson Morgan Warthin declined to provide more information about the incident, including what happened to the rest of Ro's body or how investigators believe he died. She said a full report would be released in the coming weeks.