Police investigate death during downpour at Burning Man festival

WASHINGTON

Police in the US state of Nevada were investigating a death at the Burning Man festival, where thousands of people were ordered to shelter in place after heavy rains turned the desert site into a mud pit and forced organizers to close the gates.

Pershing County Sheriff's Office in northern Nevada said late Saturday it was investigating "a death which occurred during this rain event," according to a statement cited by US media.

There were no details of the circumstances of the death or the person's identity.

"As this death is still under investigation, there is no further information available at this time," news outlet NBC quoted the statement as saying.

Earlier Saturday, the heavy rainfall forced the Bureau of Land Management and the Pershing County Sheriff's Office to close the entrance to Burning Man for the remainder of the event.

"Do not travel to Black Rock City!" Burning Man organizers tweeted, referring to the desert area where the alternative culture festival takes place.

"Access to the city is closed for the remainder of the event, and you will be turned away."

Organizers urged festivalgoers already on site to "conserve food, water and fuel, and shelter in a warm, safe space."

They said the rain was unlikely to stop until Sunday night. The festival was scheduled to conclude on Monday.

Due to downpours, the "playa," the huge open-air esplanade where the event unfolds, was rendered impassable. 

On their website, the organizers said only four-wheel drive vehicles with all-terrain tires were currently able to move.

"Anything less than that will get stuck. It will hamper Exodus if we have cars stuck on roads in our camping areas, or on the Gate Road out of the city," they said on a "2023 Wet Playa Survival Guide" page.

If necessary, they said it was possible to walk five miles (eight kilometres) through the mud to the nearest road, where they would provide buses during daylight hours to transport people to Reno.

The organizers also said they were deploying mobile cellphone towers and opening the site's wireless internet for public access to give attendees access to communications.

"We have done table-top drills for events like this. We are engaged full-time on all aspects of safety and looking ahead to our Exodus as our next priority," they said.

Further rain was forecast for Saturday night and early Sunday.

Last year, the festival contended with an intense heat wave and strong winds, which made the experience difficult for the "burners," as festivalgoers are known.

Launched in 1986 in San Francisco, Burning Man aims to be an undefinable event, somewhere between a celebration of counterculture and a spiritual retreat.

Initially organized on a San Francisco beach, Burning Man has become a structured festival, with a budget of nearly $45 million (2018 figures) and more than 75,000 participants at the last edition, down from the previous one in 2019.

The festival culminates each year with the ceremonial burning of a 40-foot (12-meter) effigy.

It has been held since the 1990s in the Black Rock Desert, a protected area in northwest Nevada, which the organizers are committed to preserving.