A woman died on the first day of the 2024 Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert over the weekend, local authorities and event organizers confirmed. It's the latest of more than half a dozen deaths at the event over the past three decades.
According to a press release issued by the Burning Man Project, emergency responders responded at 11:29 a.m. Sunday to a report of an unresponsive person. The paramedics who arrived at the scene immediately took life-saving measures, but they were unsuccessful.
However, the victim's name and age have not been released pending next of kin notification NBC News confirmed that one female participant had died. An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause and manner of death, and the results of the autopsy are awaited.
“It is with a heavy heart that the Burning Man Project acknowledges the death of a Black Rock City participant in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada,” the organization said in a statement. “Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by the loss. The participant has been identified by the Pershing County Sheriff's Office.”
The event offers 24-hour professional support services to festival attendees and also noted that the Black Rock City Emergency Department's crisis support team will be available 24/7.
Burning Man is an annual, week-long event that takes place in Black Rock City, a temporary city built in the Black Rock Desert, and focuses on “community, art, self-expression and self-sufficiency.”
THE Reno Gazette Journal reports that seven people have died at Burning Man since the event moved to the region about 100 miles north of Reno in 1990; the first death was in 1996 and the most recent was at last year's 2023 festival.