Burning Man: Police investigating death during heavy rain


By David Willis & Kathryn Armstrong
BBC News, Burning Man in Nevada & London


An investigation has been launched into the death of a person during torrential rain at the Burning Man festival in the US state of Nevada.

No further details have been given about the circumstances of their death.

Thousands of people remain stranded at the event after the bad weather turned the ground to deep, slippery mud. Roads in and out are closed as vehicles can barely drive on it.

Burning Man is held in the Black Rock Desert, which is usually dry and dusty.


In a statement on Saturday, the Pershing County Sheriff's Office said it is "currently investigating a death which occurred during this rain event", and that the person's family had been notified.

The heavy rain has made it difficult for people to leave by vehicle and the sheriff's office said attempts to do this had made the muddy ground even worse.

"There was a person parked next to me who tried to leave and she got six inches before giving up digging her wheels into the mud," USA Today reporter Trevor Hughes, who is at the festival, told the BBC.

He said that the ground was so precarious, it had taken him two hours to walk just two miles (3km).

"It [the ground] is basically this alkali dust that when dry, is hard as concrete but you get a little rain and it turns into this slippery, muddy mess," Hughes said.

"The water has nowhere to go - it can't soak in and it can't run off. So it just sits there."

More rain is expected and the authorities have said that it could be several days before the ground dries up enough for people to leave.

For this reason, they have been told to conserve their food, water and fuel.

The festival's toilets are also out of use, revellers say, because the service vehicles cannot drive on the mud to empty them.

More than 70,000 people had arrived at the site before it was closed on Saturday but the exact number of those still there is unclear.

Some have managed to leave the site, however. American DJ Diplo wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he and comedian Chris Rock walked 5miles (8km) to a road, where they were given a lift by fans.

Others have also had to rely on strangers. Ashley Smith, who lives in London, said he had to get out in order to make it back to the UK for work on Monday.

Mr Smith told the BBC that he and his friends, who were running out of supplies, left a lot of their gear and walked to the road, where they managed to catch lifts with people all the way back to San Francisco. The whole journey took them 14 hours.

The event's organisers have arranged for buses to pick people up from the road and take them to the city of Reno, more than 100 miles away.


Some revellers are using plastic bags to protect their shoes from the squelchy mud

The annual nine-day festival is one of America's most well-known arts and culture events. Visitors create a temporary city in the middle of the desert, and are expected to be largely self-sufficient while they are there.

"We have come here knowing this is a place where we bring everything we need to survive," said Burning Man in a statement.

"It is because of this that we are all well-prepared for a weather event like this."

But the rain has dampened the spirits of some.

"For me and my husband this is an escape from hard things and this is kinda hard. So I am sad," Chelsea Gold told the BBC.

Burning Man usually features giant interactive art installations and a huge wooden man that is burnt at the end of the nine days - but many of the events have been called off.

Nonetheless, many were trying to make the best of the situation, dancing in the mud to techno music.

"We're taking it as an opportunity to hang out and spend more time with our new friends and old friends in the camp," another reveller, Josiah Roe said.

Image caption,
Burning Man participants have been trying to make the best of the bad weather conditions

Burning Man was founded in June 1986 and was first held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1990.

Tickets can be very hard to get and festival-goers sometimes interview to get into popular camps and have to prove their commitment to its ideals.

Some groups spend the entire year planning their camp, artwork and theme.

But this year there had been worries about the weather and tickets were changing hands on the secondary market at below market rate.

Additional reporting by James Clayton in San Francisco and Azadeh Moshiri.