A North Carolina man out with friends late Tuesday night was seriously burned when he fell into a hot spring in Yellowstone/NPS file photo of unnamed hot spring

Editor's note: This updates with word that the man fell in up to his waist.

A North Carolina man was in a Salt Lake City hospital Wednesday after being seriously burned when he fell up to his waist into a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park late Tuesday night.

Park officials said Gervais Dylan Gatete, 21, from Raleigh, North Carolina, was with seven others when he fell into the hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin off Fountain Flat Drive, north of the Old Faithful area. The man was working in the park this summer for Xanterra Parks and Resorts.

Details Wednesday were still sketchy. Park officials were not "clear exactly where and how it occurred," a release said. An investigation was continuing.

Water temperatures in Yellowstone's hot springs vary greatly, with some exceeding the boiling point.

Yellowstone spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said that the man's burns reportedly "extended from his foot to his belly button," but she had no report on his condition.

After the young man fell into the hot spring, the group tried to get him to medical care by car, the release said.

"Just before midnight, they flagged down a ranger near Seven Mile Bridge on the West Entrance Road. Park staff provided immediate medical assistance and transported the patient via ambulance to the airport in West Yellowstone. From there, he was flown to a hospital," it added.

“Yellowstone’s thermal features are dangerous,” said Superintendent Dan Wenk. “We continually stress that people must stay on trails and boardwalks in geyser basins, not only to protect resources, but for their own safety.”

The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface.

This is the first serious injury in a thermal area this year. Last June, a man left the boardwalk and died after slipping into a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin. In August 2000, one person died and two people received severe burns from falling into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin.