Burning Man has suffered another setback after a third festival-goer died during the week-long event, held in Black Rock City, Nevada
A third person has died at Burning Man Festival (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Three men over 50 have died at Burning Man this year, tripling the average numbers of deaths at the festical. The week-long event in the brutal Nevada desert has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons following a significant number of tragedies.
On Monday, it was reported that two people had died. The first tragic incident, on September 3, saw a man in his mid-50s discovered on the floor at the festival.
CPR was performed for several minutes before a doctor sadly pronounced the man dead. Just a day later, it was confirmed by the Washoe County regional medical examiner’s office that a man, 51, had been rushed out of the festival in an ambulance and required medical attention. He also died.
Now, it has been announced that a third man, in his sixties, was found dead in his trailer. According to the local sheriff’s office, the man in question was sharing his trailer with his partner.
While details relating to the third death remain unclear, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said that more details will come to light after autopsies and toxicology reports have been carried out. They do not suspect any signs of foul play in the three deaths this year.
Jerry Allen, Pershing County sheriff and coroner, said in a statement following the three deaths: “Although we average 1 death a year at the Festival, we have had two so far this year within the confines of the Festival, and I have received information regarding a third who died in transit to a hospital in Reno.”
“We are saddened to have learned that a Burning Man participant who experienced a serious medical emergency in Black Rock City during the early hours of Friday September 4 and immediately received on-site lifesaving measures later passed away after being transported to Reno for medical care,” a spokesperson for the Burning Man organisation said on Tuesday.
Last year, 37-year-old man was found stabbed to death on the final day of the festival. He was found in a pool of blood inside a tent, after being stabbed in the neck. The case, which was the festival’s first known homicide in nearly four decades, remains unsolved, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
In 2023, heavy rainfall turned the Burning Man site into a mud pit, with 70,000 left stranded. Three months worth of rain fell in just a few days. tThe dry dust turned into a sticky clay mud that clogged bike tires and trapped vehicles.
Some guests claimed that the mud caused them mild chemical burns. The condition known as ‘playa foot’ is caused when the highly alkaline dirt is turned into a rich-chemical mud when the rain hits.
One influencer told CBS News at the time: “[The mud is] really, really wet and really, really slick. It is also very alkaline, so you do have to be careful for no prolonged exposure of your skin to the mud because apparently, it can start to really gently burn your skin.”
The festival attracts around 70,000 to 80,000 people a year who descend on Black Rock City to revel in what is seen as a counterculture sanctuary.
According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.
Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers; participants create all the art, activities, and events themselves.
The festival was founded in 1986 San Francisco beginning as a bonfire ritual and the event has been held annually since, spanning the nine days leading up to Labour Day.
Over the years, Burning Man has attracted a number of billionaires as well as celebrities, many arriving from Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have all been to the festival. Paris Hilton, Katy Perry and Cara Delevingne have all been spotted in costume on the open flats.
