Three deaths were reported at this year’s Burning Man festival in less than a week.
Organizers of the annual psychedelic music and art festival in Nevada said a man in his mid-50s was the first to die. He was identified as Sampson Tshombe and suffered a medical emergency, NBC News reported.
He had been found on a street at the festival, and first responders performed CPR for several minutes before a doctor pronounced him dead on Sept. 3. Tshombe was reported dead at the festival’s temporary hospital, Rampart, according to Fox News.
Foul play was ruled out, but the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office was expected to perform an autopsy and toxicology tests on him, with results taking several weeks, according to NBC News.
A second person, identified as 60-year-old Craig Mann, was found dead in his trailer by Washoe County Sheriff’s deputies. No signs of foul play were found, and again, autopsy and toxicology test results are pending.
Two days separated the deaths of Tshombe and Mann, KSNV reported.
The third person, who has not been identified, died while they were taken to a hospital about 120 miles away from the Black Rock City, Nevada, festival, in Reno, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said.
No additional information was available on the third person’s death, Fox News reported.
The Pershing County sheriff and coroner, Jerry Allen, said that Burning Man averages about one death a year. Allen said the third death also occurred in the Washoe County jurisdiction.
Burning Man started on Aug. 30 and ended on Sept. 7. Fox News said the festival can draw up to 80,000 people called “burners.”
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