2023-09-03 16:35:29
Police in the US state of Nevada (West) are investigating a death that occurred during the Burning Man alternative festival in the desert that heavy rains have turned into a field of mud. The organizers had to close the doors and festival-goers could no longer go to Black Rock City, the name of the site located in the Nevada desert, or, for those who were already there, leave it on Saturday.
“One death occurred during this episode of heavy rain”said in a press release the local sheriff’s office without providing more information to the media on site.
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The tens of thousands of festival-goers were still trapped on Sunday on the site, which transformed the site into a gigantic field of mud. Due to heavy rain on Saturday evening, the « playa », a huge open-air site where the gathering is being held, has been made impassable. The organizers invited the participants on site to “conserve water, food and fuel and find warm and safe shelter”.
The rains, according to the weather forecast, should be back on Sunday, the last day of the festival, while temperatures overnight from Saturday to Sunday should drop to around 10 degrees, again according to the organizers’ account.
“A little over 70,000 people” were still blocked at the site on Sunday, according to county sheriff Nathan Carmichael, interviewed by CNN. Some try to leave the site on foot to join the only passable road, 8 km further. However, local authorities ask people to “stay there until the ground becomes solid and safe enough” to allow movement.
60,000 people trapped in sticky sludge-like mud, unable to move or even walk from place to place, with limited food and water and bathrooms, maybe not able to leave until Tuesday? And it’s raining again tomorrow? What could go wrong? pic.twitter.com/mmLLNb0s6e
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— Lee Fang (@lhfang) September 2, 2023
Twitter – Lee Fang on Twitter
Suspended animations
Most of the planned events have been suspended, including the burning of the wooden giant installed in the center of ” the beach “which marks the end of the festival and gives it its name. “You can’t really walk or drive” because of the mud, testifies Christine Lee, a festival-goer, on a video shared on Saturday on TikTok. “The temporary structures have fallen”explains the young woman, who says she walks barefoot “because it is very difficult to walk with shoes”.
The festival is due to conclude on Monday, but “we will surely not be able to leave before Tuesday or Wednesday”she adds, due to the lack of a road and the upcoming rains.
More rain is expected on Sunday. Faced with this observation, several festival-goers, including comedian Chris Rock, decided to leave the festival on foot. “We walked 8 km in the mud to get out of Burning Man with Chris Rock and a fan picked us up”explains the musician DJ Diplo on the social network X (ex-Twitter).
Others tried in vain to do so by car, an SUV vehicle sunk in mud up to the underbody appearing on one of the few videos posted, internet access being restricted.
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????????FLASH : Au festival #BurningMan in Nevada, one person died after heavy rains poured down and turned the ground into a veritable field of mud. Festival-goers were unable to leave the festival, which was shut down. An investigation is underway. (Release) pic.twitter.com/YbXJBdSgLS
— Direct infos (@directinfos9) September 3, 2023
Twitter – Direct infos on Twitter
“The Burning Man community is made up of people prepared to help each other. We come here (in the middle of the desert, editor’s note), knowing that it’s a place where you have to bring everything you need to survive. It is for this reason that we are all well prepared for this type of weather event”assured the organizers on Saturday in a press release sent to AFP.
45 million de dollars de budget
The festival had faced an intense heat wave last year with strong winds which had already made the experience difficult for the « burners »nickname of the festival-goers.
Launched in 1986 in San Francisco, Burning Man aims to be an indefinable event, somewhere between a celebration of the counter-culture and a spiritual retreat. Initially held on a beach in San Francisco, Burning Man has become a structured festival, with a budget of nearly $45 million (2018 figures) and more than 75,000 participants in the last edition, down from the previous one in 2019.
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.
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