Three people died at the nine-day Burning Man festival in Nevada that ended on Labor Day.
It was a relatively high death toll for the festival of art, self-expression and radical self-reliance at the temporary Black Rock City, which springs up for the annual festival about 287 miles south of Las Vegas.
The festival averages about one death annually, according to organizers.
This year, a man in his mid-50s died Friday at the on-site medical center after suffering an unspecified medical emergency, Burning Man organizers said.
The organizers did not name him, but he was identified as Sampson Tshombe, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The second deceased person, Craigh Mann, 60, was found dead by his campmates in their campsite around 3 p.m. local time Saturday, according to organizers.
Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen said that foul play is not suspected in the death of Mr. Tshombe or Mr. Mann. Both are undergoing toxicology screenings and autopsies to determine their exact causes of death.
The Sheriff’s Office confirmed a third death Monday.
“Although we average one 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,” Sheriff Allen told People magazine.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over investigating the third death, did not publicly identify the third deceased person, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
The Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office is handling the autopsies of all three dead Burning Man attendees.
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